Medicinal Love
by Sakura Moon
Summary: Claire is on her way to graduation. What's stopping her is her lack of thesis paper. So she decided to take a new spin on researching by going to a place called Mineral Town. Doctor x Farmer Girl. MFOMT based.
1. Spring Quarter

**Medicinal Love**

Author Notes: This is the new version of my former story. There will be a lot of changes from the original. Time—the Harvest Moon time and real life's time are very different. Also I want to thank The Scarlet Sky for beta-ing this chapter!

Summary: Claire Howe, a biochemist undergrad who is taking a Bachelor's and Master Degree path(1), was supposed to graduate this year; however, she had not written her thesis paper due to lack of time and so she has decided to take a year off school to write her thesis paper. What she did not expect was her thesis paper bringing her to a no-recognition village named Mineral Town.

**Chapter 01**

_Date: Spring Quarter_

The room was quite homely; so much similar to an office cubicle. Nice curtains in conservative colors. A small computer perched on a desk. Fake plants here and there. And that standardized atmosphere of dread to even be in this kind of setting.

A blond young woman fidgeted around her seat. Her blue eyes glanced around the room. She has always hated coming to the advisor's office each quarter, but she needed to keep track of how she was doing in terms of graduation. 'Even though advisors tend to be not reliable all the time,' Claire mentally grumbled as she recalled how often she had to recheck the system herself to make sure that the advisor had not 'advised' her wrongly.

"Ok, Claire. Here we are." Her advisor organized a few documents and turned to the computer screen that was on her left. Scrolling down the page, Claire's advisor told her, "It appears you have met all of the requirements except a thesis paper. Which you need if you want to get a Master's Degree."

"I know." Claire sighed; frustrated because she had tried writing her thesis paper but in the end, she was displeased with how it turned out.

"So what are you going to do about it?"

Claire straightened up in her seat. "If you excuse me, I'm thinking of delaying my graduation a year later so I can spend some time working on my thesis paper. I'm hoping that by the end of next summer, I will produce an outstanding thesis paper. This way I'll be able to turn it in to the head of the department during the Fall quarter and hopefully by either Winter or Spring quarter, I'll graduate with both degrees."

"And what about going to a pharmacy school?"

Claire looked at her advisor in the eye. "I've taken the necessarily tests and I have letters of recommendation."

"I hope so if you still wish to pursue UCSF," her advisor gave over the information a once over. "Ok, then, looks like everything is going well. Don't forget to petition for your one year leave from school and turn that in to the administration office. They will want it before the end of this quarter."

"Alright. Goodbye then." Claire rose from her seat and went out of the office. 'Paperwork…. Great.' She moaned at doing paperwork for school. But she knew it had to be done and she headed toward the Academic Student Services building.

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Click. Tap. Click. Click. Tap.

The repeated melody of Click-Tap continued as Claire ruthlessly searched her school's online library website. She banged her hand to her desk. "Why is it so difficult to find books on practical use of herbs in medicine?!"

"There should be plenty of those books, Claire. Especially if you look through Eastern countries and what-not." A hand landed on her shoulder.

Claire nearly jumped with fright. But she recovered as she recognized her roommate's voice. "Yeah there are, but none of them strikes me compelling enough to actually use it for my thesis. So what do you want?"

Her roommate grinned. "Want to go to Pinkberry's for some frozen yogurt?"

Claire shook her head, even though the offer was tempting enough. "No thanks. I'm not in the mood to, anyway. Besides, don't you have class right now?"

"I don't feel like going." Her roommate shrugged then smiled. "Besides, it's not like it's going to affect my grade or anything."

Claire rolled her eyes. "Yeah. I'm surprised you can get those stellar grades with you ditching class most of the time. Seriously, how do you do it?"

"Skills, my friend. Just plain ol' skills." A smirk formed on her roommate's face.

Claire could not stop rolling her eyes out at that. "Uh huh. I'll leave you and your skills alone while I head out to the school library."

"Which one?"

"The one near the science department." Claire grabbed her handbag and left her room, knowing that her roommate would lock the door when she left.

'What am I going to do?' Whining in her head, Claire glanced at the campus scenery around her. 'I can't afford to screw the time that I've allotted for myself.' She nearly screamed, but Claire managed to restrain herself before she made a fool out of herself in front of all the other students and a group of middle school students touring around the university campus.

It was not long before Claire reached one of her school's numerous libraries. There were several other students lounging in the area. Some were either studying for their finals—even though finals week was not until the next month. 'Overachievers.' Claire thought as she passed by a study group. Others were just chilling around. The rare…some were actually reading the books. Claire headed over to the subject area of the library and began the self-torture. Fingers browsed through several titles as quiet chatter from a nearby table filled the air.

_Psychology: Mind over Matter. Pain-relief Drugs: Are they Good for You? Herbal Medicine & its Practical Uses in Modern Society._

"Wait a minute," Claire murmured; her hand paused at the last title. Picking the book from its shelf, she skimmed through the pages randomly. Satisfied with the content, Claire grinned and continued skimming the titles around.

Time passed but Claire was content with the number of books she had found. She was not sure whether they would be useful in her thesis but the contents looked promising. 'Finally!' Claire thought as she trudged through the stairs to her dormitory. Night time appeared and students were getting ready to head for the dining halls. Claire had to quickly run to the elevator before it closed on her. 'I wonder how many universities have elevator music playing in the elevators?' Claire thought as she listened to the music as she watched the numbers go up to six. Several students shoved their way in once Claire got out of the elevator and into her floor. She glared at them. "I wonder what's up with them." Annoyed by the rudeness, Claire kicked her room door opened.

"Took you long enough, didn't it?"

Scowling, Claire glared at her roommate. "What do you mean it took me long enough?!"

"It's almost dinner time." The other occupant pointed the clock while looking at Claire with a blank expression.

Claire shook her head in confusion. "And how is that any different than any other dinner time?"

Her roommate sighed in frustration. "You should really check the monthly menu. Tonight's **the special**."

At that moment, Claire's face was loosing all color. "Tonight's _**the special**_?" When her roommate nodded, panic took over Claire's composition. "Why didn't you warn me that tonight's **the special?**! Great, and now the best stuff will already be gone."

Every month at university, the dorm cafeteria would have the best meals where the foods tasted like a four-star restaurant…for one night. It's common knowledge that dorm food is not 'the' greatest food in the planet, no matter how much the colleges claim that they hired the best chefs and cooks. So for one night where everything was actually what it's worth, every student that lives in the dorms would always try to get the best seat, plates, anything that they could possibly grab their hands on to.

"Well, they will be if you continue moping around, that is. If we hurry right now, we could still make it. After all, you do remember that the clock is ahead by fifteen minutes, right?"

Claire almost snapped her head. Then she hurriedly glanced at the clock. "Oh right. I almost forgot about that," she weakly chuckled. "Well let's get going?"

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"Man, that was some good stuff." Claire sprawled across her bed, patting her stomach with a pleased expression slapped on her face.

Her roommate moaned. "Tell me about it. Too bad this only happens once every month, right? You'd think with all those tuition and housing fees, the school would get at least some decent cooks for us."

Claire looked at her roommate as she turned over to her side so she was now on her stomach. "Rip off, isn't it? The only good thing is the prestige this university has." Her eyes landed on the stack of books that were on the ground. 'I really don't want to but I have to do this sooner or later.'

"Hey Patty, can you get me one of those books?" Claire pointed the books on the ground.

Patty, whose name was actually Patricia, glared at Claire. She picked up the top book from the pile and threw it at Claire. "Hey! Geesh, what got you all so cranky? Is it that time again?"

"Claire."

"Yes?"

"Shut up."

Opening her book, Claire did not bother Patricia any further. Claire could already sense that Patty was at her limit, and thought that it would be wise to start reading the intro to the book Patricia had thrown at her.

As she reads through the introduction, Claire noticed that this was _Herbal Medicine & its Practical Uses in Modern Society._ Further along the book, there was this impulsiveness that was waiting to happen.

_Around Mineral Town, there are several herbs that can be picked…_

…_can be used as medicine…_

It was not rare for some societies to use herbs as medicine. In fact, Eastern societies tended to use it more often than Western societies. This Claire already knew, but there was this nagging feeling within her. That impulsiveness she had was taking control. But her mind went to the name, Mineral Town. 'Where is that?' Claire pushed herself off her bed and grabbed her laptop. Typing Mineral Town on Google, Claire was a tad bit disappointed when she saw that only five results where shown. Fortunately for her, one came with an image.

"Shit. That's far." Claire cursed as she saw that Mineral Town was nothing but an island and that the nearest city seemed to be somewhere in the east of where she was.

"What are you cursing about now?"

Claire sneaked a glance at Patricia, hoping to judge her reaction. "I'm just researching a place that I'm planning to stay at for a year." She only heard a sigh as her roommate stayed stoic.

"Then don't whine about the distance."

'That Patricia….' Claire mentally shook her head at her roommate and went back reading at the information Google had provided her.

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**(Edited 1/4/09) Changed Jill's name to Claire.  
**  
Author Note: Thanks to The Scarlet Sky for beta-ing this!


	2. Fall Season Part 1

**Medicinal Love**

Author's Note: Certain events that happened in Year 1 of HM:MF game will occur in Year 2 for the purpose of this story. I'll be going on with the dollar system for currency exchange rate. $1 = 100 g

Chapter 02

_Date: Year 2 : Fall 01 (Mineral Town)_

"Attention, passengers. We'll be landing on Mineral Beach in one hour. Please get all your belongings ready by that time. Thank you." The captain's voice fizzled out.

Claire leaned over the rail. Suddenly she shivered as the ocean breeze brushed by her. Claire pulled her hooded sweater tighter, hoping it would keep in her body heat. 'I can't believe that I am doing this.' Mixture of emotions run through her: anxiety, doubts, thrill and excitement.

During her summer, Claire got herself a part-time job to have some funding for what she was about to do. Right now, she only had 2,000 g left. 'Who knew that getting here by plane and ship would cost me this much?' Detaching herself from the rails, she bounced to her room. "I need to find some work around here and fast." She thought about her financial situation and to be frank, it did not looked pretty if she could not find a way to make money. Judging by the amount she had right now, she'd be lucky if she could get through two seasons. Which, Claire noticed, that Mineral Town goes by a whole different calendar and currency; it was something that perplexed her for quite a bit but gave in anyway. 'Still….' Claire cleared all her possessions and carried them with her, one hand on the luggage while the other rested on her backpack. "Will this trip be all for naught?"

"We have now arrived in Mineral Town. Passengers, please get your belongings and head to the dock."

'This is it, Claire. There is no turning back right now. Especially when you don't have enough for a plane ticket. And you're pretty far from home.' Claire asserted herself but doubt lingered around her. "I can do this. Otherwise I'm in deep shit." Before she knew it, her feet had already taken her to the dock. The first thing she saw amazed her. Pristine white sand covered the shores as the ocean waves continued to try to grab the cleanliness that was there. She let out a low whistle.

"Amazed by my hotness?" Someone interrupted Claire's train of thought.

"What?!" Her sharp voice shot through the air as Claire stepped back and glared at the figure before her. A young man, who looked to be someone in his early to mid-twenties, eyed her. Claire noted the dark-skin and the purple bandana wrapped around his head. Before Claire could give this guy a piece of her mind, someone else interrupted her.

"Don't forget me, Kai! See you next summer!" a loud, high-pitched feminine voice screeched out.

Claire discretely, but not really, shoved Kai—whom she assumed to be the guy that was in her way—and searched out the area to see whom that shriek belonged to. Once she saw the person, Claire's eyes popped out. 'Is that real or fake?' A young woman, though Claire had trouble deciding whether it was a girl or a woman, wore an old-fashion dress; but what was eye-popping was the color of her hair, which was shockingly pink. 'And suddenly I'm thrust into a world of anime.' Next to the young woman stood a man, with sandy hair and thin-rimmed frames, who seemed to be only a couple of years older than her. Claire was not sure what the relationship between the two was, but judging the way he glared daggers at Kai, the guy must be either a jealous friend or an older brother with a sister complex. 'If those two are siblings, thank god the guy didn't inherit the pink hair—if it's real, that is.'

"Excuse me, miss?" A hand appeared in front of Claire's face, but she swatted it off before checking other whether the other woman's hair looked dyed or not. "Are you boarding off?"

The forgotten guy placed a hand on the steward. "Allow me to do the honors," Kai grinned.

Claire was so immersed in her questioning that she could barely recognize that something had landed on her rear. The next thing Kai knew was the sound of his cheek against skin as Claire turned around angrily and slapped him on the face. The sound of the slap echoed through the area as the two people on the pier stopped what they were doing; both were flabbergasted.

"Groper!" Claire snarled at Kai, who backed off at the tell-tale sign of female vengeance.

"Are you leaving or staying, miss?" the steward cautiously asked the fuming blonde-headed female.

"Leaving!" Claire spat at the word. Before she turned around and left, she glared one more time at Kai, who weakly grinned, hoisted her luggage and backpack to march down the rail.

'That pervert. Jeesh, no matter where you go, they're always there just waiting for their opportunity.' A frown formed on Claire's face; even here, she'd already encountered a man who couldn't respect a girl's personal space.

The two people she'd seen on the pier earlier approached her. One looked pleased while the other was downright furious. 'Figures that the chick would be pissed.' For a brief moment, Claire wished that she had just stayed home like any normal student and buried herself under tons of research books with a healthy dose of caffeine by her side: the ideal life for any college student near mid-terms and finals.

"Welcome to Mineral Town! I like the way how you handled that guy!" Upon closer inspection, the male had the nicest blue eyes that Claire had ever encountered. The guy offered her his hand. "I'm Rick." Claire shook his hand, vaguely nodding at his introduction. Then he pointed to the woman next to him. "And this is my younger sister, Popuri."

Hiding her shock at the revelation, Claire nodded to Popuri—who only glared at her and stormed off. 'Pfft, doesn't have any sense of courtesy.' Claire was half-tempted to call her out as a bitch, but decided not to since it could have only been a misunderstanding; though, she did not notice she was still shaking Rick's hand.

"Do you need help…?" Rick trailed off, not knowing her name.

She swerved back to reality as she realized what was happening and broke the handshake between them. "Sorry." Claire sheepishly smiled. "I'm Claire. Do you know if there's an inn or a hostel around here?"

"Yup, we have one. There's Doug's Place. It serves as both an inn and a bar. If you want, I can show you the way. It's not that far from here." Rick brushed a fallen strand away from his face and smiled.

Touched by his kindness, a genuine smile formed on Claire's face. "If you insist, then I have to take your offer. Show the way, my good man." Feeling that the moment called for it, Claire patted Rick's back. For a brief moment, Claire felt a bit of tension there, but he later relaxed into the patting. 'Maybe I shouldn't have done that? Eh, it's too late.'

"Here, let me carry that for you."

Claire stepped back as Rick took her luggage from her and started walking. Walking at the same pace as Rick, Claire spoke out. "So…do you live here?"

Rick looked at her. "Yeah, pretty much all of my life."

Claire took note of her surroundings as they walked up the steps to a brick-tiled plaza. "I guess it isn't so bad living here." Realizing what she had spoken aloud, Claire rushed to fix any damages. "Not that I'm being critical or anything, but…" Claire stopped in her rant as she heard some chuckling.

"It's nothing like the city, right?" Rick looked at her with certainty. His voice held no surprise or astonishment. It was like he had already expected her reaction.

Remembering the fresh breeze from the ocean, Claire nodded. "Yeah…" Her voice faded as she took note of anything. 'It seems more of a village than a town.'

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They spent a couple of hours touring around Mineral Town, Hill and the Goddess Spring. Near the end of the tour, Claire felt ready to go to sleep and never wake up. 'I knew I should have taken Patricia's offer to go train at a gym.' She huffed as she attempted to catch her breath. Closing her eyes, Claire tried to will away the migraine. Head spinning and everything too bright, Claire could barely comprehend what Rick was saying. She felt her cheeks flushing, but at the same time the feeling was chilling. It was like she was burning and someone had put a sheet of ice on her.

Rick watched as Claire swayed a little; her skin becoming pale. "Hey, Claire, are you alright?" Concern laced with worry as Claire failed to reply. His eyes widened as he saw Claire falling. Quickly, he managed to catch her, but he stumbled a bit as his body adjusted to the new weight. Once he got Claire in his arms—bridal style—Rick ran to the local clinic.

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There were voices; different voices. There was also a smell of something herbal lingering in the air. Claire groaned as she found herself surrounded in darkness. She tried moving her arm, but found herself unable to; it was as if someone was holding her arm down. The voices got louder.

"Hey! She's waking up!"

Eyes slowly opened, Claire moved her head to the source; it was Rick. "Rick?" Her throat parched at the sudden dryness as Rick and a dark-haired man in a doctor's outfit stood by her side.

Before Claire could comprehend, a small cup was in front of her view. "Here, drink this." the doctor told her as she gratefully took the cup from him.

"Thank you."

Chilling water purged her throat as she savored the taste. 'That is some good water right here.' Claire handed the cup back to the doctor. "So what's the diagnosis?"

"It appears that you were exhausted and dehydrated." The doctor gave her the look that all doctors give when they are disappointed in their patients. "When was the last time you had this much exercise?"

Claire was stumped. "Uh…never?"

The doctor rubbed his eyes. "Well, Miss…."

"Claire."

"Claire." The doctor continued. "It seems that you have high level of fatigue as well as your stamina being empty." Claire saw him grabbed two small bottles; one green and one red.

"Drink these two and you should recover half of what you lost. After that have plenty of rest and a good meal." The doctor handed her the bottles. "By tomorrow, you should feel fine, except your muscles might be sore."

Claire's eyebrows went up. "Might be? You mean most likely." Opening one of the bottles, she took a sniff. 'Ok, it doesn't smell bad so how does it taste?' Taking a deep breath, Claire quickly shoved the liquid from the red bottle. "Not ba…." She started to say but after the taste had gone down her throat she gasped. Hands clenched on the mat as Claire strongly attempted to not think of the after taste. She eyed the green bottle warily, debating whether or not she should drink it or chunk it out. But before she could make a decision, the doctor quickly took the green bottle, told Rick to hold her down causing her to protest—which was what the doctor needed, her mouth opened—and shoved the contents down her throat leaving her to gag the taste of the medicine.

With Rick patting her back, Claire glared at the doctor. "What was in those medicines? Weeds?"

The doctor just gave her a look. "If you put it that way yes. Though the proper term are herbs."

"Oh and what kind of herbs? Red grass?" Claire sarcastically listed off one of the herbs she recalled from Basil's book. She was still peeved at how she had to endure that. It was like drinking a cherry-grape flavored medicine and washing that down with soda.

"Listen here. I personally made all those medicines and not once did I ever use red grass. What you just took has orange grass as one of the ingredients." The doctor could feel himself loosing control. For some reason, this woman just set him off. 'Maybe it's her attitude.'

Claire was about to make a comeback when she realized that this guy here made his own medicine. A smile appeared on her face, which threw the doctor and Rick offguard. 'Maybe this is the opportunity that I've been looking for. If I were to do this, then chances are I'll stand out more in the applications. Especially if I can say that I have experience in working at the lab making medicine, then chances are I could get into a really good pharmaceutical school. Though there is a good chance he won't agree it this, but it is a risk that I have to make. Plus, there might be money involve.' "Doctor…."

"Trent," Doctor Trent replied briskly.

"Dr. Trent. I have a proposition for you." Trent raised an eyebrow when he heard this. Claire continued on. "How about I help you in the lab? I could be your lab assistant." She looked at him to gauge his reaction. Nothing. 'Jeesh, a rock has more expression than that. Quirk an eyebrow at least.'

"Miss Claire. I'm afraid that there aren't any positions available for you to help out considering that the clinic is never too busy." Trent motioned the room around them. "As you can see, we rarely get visitors. So there are plenty of medicines in the storage. But," he cut off Claire as she started to speak, "If I do need an assistant for something that Elli would not be able to handle, then I'll make sure to call you."

Plastering on a smile, Claire warmly said to him. "Of course. I understand. If you ever need me, I'll be staying at the Inn." Holding out her hand, Claire continued, "It was a pleasure meeting you, Doctor." Once Trent shook her hand, Claire turned to Rick and dragged him out of the clinic.

Making sure they were a good feet away from the place, Claire released her groans and frustrations. "Man. I was hoping for some lab work so I can accumulate my experiences and get some form of cash." Claire kicked a stone. 'There goes my opportunity to spice up my resume. Farewell UCSF. And there goes my way to make some cash to survive here. Farewell money.'

Rick looked at her. "I wish there was something I can do to help, but I don't know a lot of people that will hire someone. There's a guy that's staying in the Inn, same money situation as you; he hasn't got a job and it's almost a year since he arrived to Mineral Town."

Mixture of emotions raged inside of Claire. Fear. Worry. A bit of exhaustion. Uncertainty. Claire took a deep breath. She gathered the wild emotions and tried to put them in once place. 'This is just another step to the real world.' Claire looked at Rick. "Is there any way to make money in here? Foraging? Will that work?"

Rick tapped his finger to his chin. There was an air of uncertainty surrounding him but Claire could feel the hope that lingered around it. "I guess so, Claire. Maybe you should ask Zack. He's the one that ships products to other towns."

Another sigh left Claire. A couple steps later, they were in front of the room where Claire was staying. 'When did we enter the Inn?' Claire thought, perplexed, but she brushed it off, deciding she must have been too distracted to notice.

Giving Rick her biggest grin, Claire hugged him. "Thanks a lot, Rick! Without your help, I might as well have been lost for a couple of days."

Slightly embarrassed at the gesture, Rick said to her, "It's no problem really." He paused. Claire noted Rick looked torn between wanting to do something or not. What Rick wanted to do, she could not find the answer; until Rick answered that question for her. "You're going to be alright?"

Claire stepped back a bit. Eyes wide and shock plastered to her expression, Claire offered no quick reply.

"I…I'm sorry if I was being nosy."

"No. No. It's alright. You don't have to worry about me, Rick. I'll be fine. I'll survive somehow." Claire gave a weak grin at that.

Rick turned away. "Alright, then. See you some other time." A final wave was thrown at Claire before he headed downstairs.

Claire shut the door behind her. She closed her eyes in weariness. Walking toward her bed, she flopped herself on it. One arm over her eyes and the other propped near her side, there was a final whisper: "I can't give up…not now." Without realizing what was happening, Claire's weariness caught up to her. It was not long before sleep overcame her, the last thought on her mind that herbal scent.


	3. Fall Season Part 2

**Medicinal Love**

Chapter 3

_Date: Fall 7 Year 2_

Petite hands plucked some mushrooms off the ground. There were a variety of them; some were colored brown while a few of them were red with yellow spots on them. Claire moved around a bit, a basket in hand. "Who would have thought that my only source of income would be mushrooms?" Saying this more of a statement than a question, she uncrossed her legs to let the blood circulate. She looked up to the sky. "I guess this is enough."

Clouds slowly moved in the clear sky, and Claire allowed herself to relax for a bit. There was nothing that could cause her worry or give her headaches at the moment. Her whole body was relaxed. She spent some time just lounging around the area. The softness and prickly feeling of grass tickled her neck and arms. As time passed, she forced herself to leave Mother's Hill. Reaching down to where the lake was, she noticed that there was someone else in its the reflection. That person was wearing a white coat and seemed to be bending down frequently. 'Please let that be someone else,' her mind pleaded. 'Anyone but the doctor.' Claire admitted that she was a bit put off at how the local doctor treated her. There was something inside her that just ticked her off at how he approached and talked to her. 'Was it from when he rejected my offer?' She paused to consider for a moment. 'No. That can't be it. I'm not that petty—not at a tiny rejection like that.' Claire bit her lip. She began muttering a list of possibilities of why she was feeling this way. It disturbed her how affected she was just by seeing the doctor.

Too lost in her own thoughts, Claire failed to see the figure approaching her. Once he saw her standing still, occasionally muttering something and having this displeased thoughtful expression on her face, he stopped his task and decided to talk with her to see how she was doing. As the person got closer to Claire, she snapped her mind back to reality and saw him coming. 'Oh no…' she quietly moaned. Something inside of her went erratic. Claire had a hard time determining whether this was a good or bad thing, but at that moment, she decided this feeling belonged to the 'bad' category. She decided to imagine that none of this was happening to her and that she'd just be ignorant of the situation and pretend that this was just another co-worker whom she really didn't like. 'Why me?' she once again moaned at her unlucky fate. Claire forced a smile toward the doctor. "Dr. Trent. It's a surprise seeing you here." There was feigned shock in her tone.

Trent gave her a curt nod along with a polite and stiff answer. "Today's my day off from work." He shifted his bag a bit. Several leaves were sticking out of it, Claire noted.

'I wonder if those were herbs that he was collecting,' Claire wondered, but decided not to go any further on that since it really was not her business. She tightened her hands around her own basket. "I see."

Heavy tensions emitted from the couple. Time froze, but to Claire, it felt like the world was continuing to move on without them. Leaves continued to fall and small animals continued to play around. But she was trapped in the dome that she had unknowingly created with Trent. Claire wanted out. Trent was unnerving her; and she didn't know why. One of them had to break out of this dome. However, it didn't look like Trent was making the effort to do so. 'Men. Such lazy bums.' She sighed in her head. "Well. I'll be going then since it looks like you're busy. Bye."

Dark eyes trailed her movement. "Good day." After watching her a bit, Trent continued his task.

'God that was nerve-wrecking.' Claire was a bit shaken. 'Why is he affecting me this much? Huh, I must be petty, then. If he didn't reject my offer, then none of this would have happened.' Pain began to pressure against her head. "Stop it, Claire. Thinking about this is only going to give you trouble. It's best to forget this and continue on with life." With determination, she continued trekking through the forest. The air around her felt different now, a difference one felt when there was a change in time.

Claire glanced at her watch after she shifted her weight from one side to another. The clock showed a hand at three. "Fudge. How the hell did this happen? It must be because of _him_." Her voice went harsh at the mention of the doctor. "Thanks to him, I got distracted and now I have to get to Zack's before he leaves." The last time she missed Zack, she had to run all over Mineral Town just looking for him. That time, she only had a bag of fish with her. It was not very thrilling and fun experience.

Small woodland creatures skittered around Claire as she bull-dozed through them. Trees slowly disappeared from view as a small field entered the scene. A small group of chickens clucked around the small stone fence as a cow and sheep gazed the fenced grass. There were a couple of fields; blank ones, but they looked like they were toiled and plowed through. Claire wished she could have taken the time to enjoy walking through Blue Moon farm, but time was running short and she had to get to Zack's before he engaged her into playing tag.

"Hey Claire!" Jack, owner of Blue Moon, yelled out to her as she jogged through his farm. He waved her to come over, shovel on the ground with his right foot on top of its head. Spark, Jack's dog, bounded over to her. Tail wagging, he jumped around Jill.

Claire slowed down to the point where she was just casually walking. "Oh. Hey, Jack. Done with today's work?" Dodging another 'attack' from Spark, Claire made sure to lead him away from her.

A wide grin appeared on Jack's face. "Hahaha. Not really. I just need to fertilize some soil and plant some carrot seeds."

Claire hummed a bit. "I would love to stay here and chat with you, Jack, but I really have to get to Zack's and drop this load off." She gestured at her basket, and shrugged. She started to leave, but something caught her shoulder. "Wha--?" Claire turned around to look at what had caught her: a gloved dirty hand. "Jaaack." There was exasperation in her tone.

"Wait up, Claire." Jack dropped his shovel to the floor, scaring away one of the Harvest Sprites who were taking a break from watering. "Oops. Sorry, Aqua." He turned his head to face Jill, whose arm he was still holding on to. "You don't have to go looking for Zack. He'll stop by here at five to pick up the shipment."

Claire's eyebrows shot up. "Really? Then you wouldn't mind if I come by here every time I need to drop something off for Zack?" She gestured her basket before setting it down on the grass.

"Go right ahead." Jack bowed down a little, sweeping his arms out.

She could not stop her impending grin as she shook her head. "Such a gentleman you are."

He got up close to Claire. Cupping one side of her face, he gently tilted her face toward him. "Only to fair maidens such as yourself."

Claire nearly wanted to snort at that, but that would be unlady-like and there was a slight chance Jack might be offended by that. She swatted his hand away as she chuckled. "Keep this up, Romeo, and you'll have the ladies here sweeping at your feet left and right."

"But not you?" There was a hint of curiosity in his tone. She made a small sound before unleashing a long, "Hmmm."

Claire said nothing more as she stared into the multi-colored sky. The playful atmosphere between them was long gone as things quieted down a bit. There were sounds of chickens clucking around as they pecked through the ground for food, and Claire scratched Sparky's head when he came over to her. But her mind was not there. She thought back to Jack's pick-up line. That type of pick-up line would never have worked for her. It might have worked on some _other_ women, but right now, she was just not looking for a relationship, or even dating for that matter. There was no meaning in the pick-up line. It would take more than just flattery to get a place in her heart. Once she felt at ease with the current situation she was in, Claire went over to the apple tree and sat down at the base. "How's the farming going, Jack?"

Jack moved over to where she was, and he decided not to intrude on the clear avoidance of the previous topic. Picking two bright red apples, he gave one to Claire while keeping the other for himself. "It's going well. Farming is a bit easier now that I've gotten used to it." He took a bite.

"That's good. It's been a year since you moved here, hasn't it?" Claire asked. Mouth crunching the pieces of the apple, she savored the juice's sweetness. Jack nodded.

Heavy footsteps came from the front entrance of the farm. A loud voice bellowed, "Yo Jack! Zack's here!"

Jack stood up. He picked Jill's basket as he walked over to the large man. "Hey, Zack. Mind taking this shipment as well?" Jack showed Zack the mushrooms.

Zack carefully picked the mushrooms from the basket. "Sure Jack." Zack looked at them carefully. "I thought you didn't forage anymore, Jack."

"These aren't mine. Those are Claire's."

Zack let out a laugh. Apparently, he remembered that fiasco as well, Claire thought. She saw him hand something to Jack. He walked over to her with a small bag in his hand. "Here you go, Claire. Payment for your mushrooms."

She jiggled the bag a bit. It was pretty heavy, so Claire only estimated that she had probably gotten around 1300g. "Thanks again, Jack, for letting me do this."

Jack shrugged it off. "Hey, it's no problem. Alright? Anything you need to ship to Zack, you're welcome to come by my place."

A grateful grin was all that Claire found she could give to Jack. "I…guess I'll be going now. See ya."

"Later, Claire."

The sky began to darken. The moon was already out even though the sun had not set, so Claire took her time and enjoyed the setting around her. She noticed that Mineral Town was nothing like college or any other places she been to. There was something about the village that gave the true definition of a small town community. She would not mind living here for awhile, but deep inside of her, Claire knew that she would eventually get bored of this place. "Ahh. If anything, this could be a place that I visit in the summer or spring time." Squeezing the money pouch once more, Claire laughed. "One more and I don't have to forage in the winter."

"Look down, Claire!" There was urgency in the tone as someone called out to her.

Claire was confused. "Eh?" But she did as told and quickly caught a bundle of white feathers that bumped into her shins. The chicken, not pleased being held by a stranger, quickly started moving around. Claire struggled keeping the bird in its place until whoever had called her came up to her. "Rick?" Once she saw who it was, she wanted to slap herself. 'Who else would have chickens? Only Jack and Rick.' Holding the chicken out, Claire raised an eyebrow at Rick—who panted. "Runaway chicken?"

Rick paused as he tried to collect his breath. "Th...thanks a lot Claire." Another huff. "She managed to escape the bin, and I wanted to catch her before the wild dogs appeared." Rick took the chicken away from Claire. He looked to the side then back at Claire. While doing so, the sound of a bell rang throughout the village. Rick went paled. "Claire. Could you do me a really important favor?" Rick stared pleadingly to Claire.

Sensing the anxiety that was coming from Rick, Claire began to worry. "What is it Rick?"

"Could you stop by the clinic and get the medicine from the doctor? Tell him that it's for Lillia and he'll understand. There are other chickens that I have to catch before those dogs could get their teeth on them. Please Claire?" Rick looked imploringly at her.

Claire resigned herself to her fate. There was no way she could say no to a favor like that. Especially not when Rick needed her help; good friends always help each other regardless of personal bias. "Well why are you standing here asking me for? Shouldn't you be catching those chickens?"

Rick's expression relaxed as relief coursed through him. "Thanks a lot, Claire. I owe you one." Without a moment's pause, he quickly turned back and ran.

She blew her bangs away. "I wonder if he's there?" Claire asked herself. Her feet took her to the path. By the time she arrived in front of the clinic, the night had gotten chilly and she shivered. Raising her fist to the door, Claire knocked. "God. I hope he's there 'cause otherwise I'll be waiting out here waiting for him," she muttered as she scrunched her body closer to keep the warmth. Seeing that no one had opened the door, Claire knocked again.

What had seemed to be an eternity had only been a couple minutes. But the door finally opened, and Trent appeared in the doorway. When she saw him, Claire really wanted to make a snappy comment, but seeing how she was doing this for Rick, she refrained herself from saying anything that could be misunderstood.

Trent was shocked, though he kept that hidden underneath his poker mask, to see Claire standing on the doorway. "May I help you?" he inquired of her. Even though he was not currently working, he still had to maintain his profession; considering this place was a village, he had to expect the infrequent times a patient might come to him.

Claire shuffled her feet a bit. "Yeah. Rick told me to get some medicine for Lillia?"

Trent frowned and his brow creased. "I see." Claire saw him disappear before reappearing with a small black bag. He closed the door and went off. She stood there for two straight minutes.

"Bastard. He just left me here!" Claire was mad alright. She was furious at how Trent treated her; like she was invisible. Too disorientated by her rage, Claire went over to Rick's place, knowing that somehow she would see the rude doctor.

It hadn't taken too long when she arrived at Rick's. It also did not take her that long to get inside. 'Unlike a certain somebody who kept other people outside waiting in the cold,' Claire thought furiously. She looked around the living room. Laying on the sofa was an older version of Popuri. 'Well…that does it. Pink is natural in this family. …I think.'

"How are you feeling, Lillia?" Trent asked her; his bag opened and several bottles sat on the table next to them.

Lillia coughed. Her eyes stared weakly into Trent's. "The usual," her voice rasped as she leaned back further on the sofa.

"I see." Trent put away some of his tools and picked one of the bottles. "This one has never been tested before, but it should help you recover your stamina and fatigue."

Claire looked at Trent. "Never been tested…" she half-whispered; her mind was reeling. As if in slow motion, she watched the hand coming closer to the mouth. "Hold it right there!"

Her yell had nearly made Trent drop the unknown medicine and caused Lillia to look at her. Claire went over to where they were and grabbed the bottle away from Trent. Trent protested but Claire sent him a glare. "Dude. Why are you giving this to her if it's never been tested out?" She gave it a clear look, sniffed, and tasted it. Scowling, Claire sent another glare to Trent. "I may not be a professional pharmacist but I know enough to know that you," Claire stabbed Trent with her finger, "should not be making medicine and giving it out to patients before testing it out. That is why pharmacists exist." She stopped to get her breath. "Now listen. Give her the medicine that you usually give to her. Then you and I will talk about this later." Claire went over to Rick, clasping his shoulder with her hand as she said to him, "Sorry about that, Rick. I'll be outside."

The wait was not so long since Trent went outside a few moments after she had already done so. Claire glanced at the sky. It was already night-time and the moon was shining. There were howls echoing around and she remembered what Rick said about wild dogs. Fear began to creep towards Claire, and she shivered. Docile dogs were one thing; wild dogs were another. She hoped that none would come by and attack her.

Claire stopped Trent from entering the clinic after following him. "What are her symptoms, doctor?"

Trent looked at her. "I'm not at liberty to say."

"Well, Dr. Trent, there might be a slight chance I might know of the illness Rick's mom has. That is if I knew what the symptoms are," Claire said, though she understood what Trent was doing; this was all under patient confidential.

There was a slight hesitation coming from Trent. But after seeing her blow up on him when he tried to use the medicine that he had created, he had no choice but to believe her. Motioning for her to follow him inside, Trent led Claire to the back cabinets. He took a manila folder out and showed it to her.

Claire skimmed through the list. Then in her brain, she went through various possibilities and the only one that looked like that might fit was chronic fatigue syndrome. She told this to Trent, who looked at her in confusion as if he had never heard of the sickness before. Claire wanted to slap herself. 'Is he really a doctor?' She then began to wonder how the heck he had become a doctor. "It's the only one that I could think of. I'm not really 100 percent positive on this so you might have to do some research."

"Is there a cure for it?" Trent came close to her. A part of him wanted to grab her shoulders and look at her right in the eyes, but the rational part of him stopped that.

Claire looked away for a bit before meeting his eyes. Her next words destroyed any hope Trent might had received. "Well. Not really. There are some medicines that can increase the chances of recovery, but there is no known cure for it. But there's a good chance Rick's mom won't die from chronic fatigue syndrome if she takes good care of her diet."

After hearing those words, Trent slumped in his chair. He really wanted to help Lillia, to get rid of the illness so that her husband could come home. But finding out that there was no cure destroyed that goal. Also, add the fact that he had been scorned and lectured by a student studying in the field of medicine. That really brought his mood down.

Claire stared at him in wonder. Seeing his reaction over this had struck something inside her. 'He really cares about his patients.' "Hey. It's not that bad." 'Actually chronic fatigue syndrome is somewhat bad.' "As long as Lillia keeps a healthy diet and takes proper medicine, then there's about a 65 percent chance she might recover."

Trent scoffed at that. "What proper medicine would that be?" He laid his head down. "I'm a failure as a doctor…"

'Hmmm. Can't argue you with there, pal,' Claire thought to herself. Frankly, she was curious to see how he became the local doctor. She went over to his desk and sat on it. "Hey, listen. You're not that bad of a doctor." Before Trent could respond to that, Claire quickly changed the subject. "Besides. What kind of medicine were you attempting to make, anyway?" She held up the bottle that she had tested and showed it to him.

"It was supposed to restore stamina and fatigue," Trent sighed, his head tilted sideways.

There was a slight humming sound coming from one of the light bulbs above. Even in a dimly lighted area, Claire could still see the pristine white walls shining. The clock ticked.

"Well, you're sure about that? Because when I tasted it, I could practically feel my energy leaving me rather quickly. What did you put in there?"

Trent listed out the ingredients that he used. Some of them Claire recognized from the book that she had photocopied from the school library. Hearing those, her face started losing color a bit. Claire scoffed. "Listen. How about I work with you on creating that medicine of yours? I get my experience and you get your medicine. We will both benefit from this. So, what do you say?"

There was resignation in his voice. "Fine." He turned his back on Claire.

'I just sent myself to hell, didn't I?'

--

Author's Note: Ok, so some of you might be wondering about the whole doctor business with Trent here. I think, judging by the game, that Trent inherent his parents' profession. Sorta like how they do it in the very very old days. This is not my most favorite chapter, so I'm hoping this won't deterred you guys away from reading this story. All that is really needed is for Claire to work with Tim.

Oh and this chapter has been beta'ed by The Scarlet Sky.


	4. Harvest Moon Event Part A

**Medicinal Love**

Chapter 4 – Part 1

_Date: Fall 13 Year 2_

"…."

No response came from the screen.

"…."

Half the document was filled with letters while the other half remained white. Clean white. White like the walls from the clinic white. 'Clinic….' Claire slammed the monitor of her laptop down. Her eyes widened as she realized the full consequences of her action. "Oh shit." She quickly opened her laptop. Seeing the document still there, Claire let out the breath that she was holding. She pushed herself back away from the miniature table. Blue eyes wandered.

It had been almost two weeks since she had arrived in Mineral Town. Already she had made some friends here and there. There was also the matter of the gossiping trio. Claire pursed her lips in annoyance. Unfortunately she had the horror of meeting their acquaintance as they flocked around her and bombarded her with questions. In her opinion, the mob mentality had gotten worse once word got around that she would be working with the doctor and was good friends with Rick and Jack; this led to several negative feelings from the eligible females of the village and fed more ammunition to the gossiping trio. 'It's like high school all over again. The unnecessary (but it's going to be there anyway) drama.' Eyes flickered back to the laptop. "Well, it looks like it's you and me tonight, pal," Claire told her laptop.

The night had already begun and daylight was almost over. Earlier, Claire had gone around the village only to find that every store was closed. Claire was not sure whether Jack would be free or not, but found herself too lazy to walk over to the farm. She had decided to work on her paper, but even that was tiresome. "Hmmm," she muttered to herself. "I wonder why all the stores are closed. Even Ann is not cleaning today." Claire waited for a couple of seconds before deciding that waiting would not find her the answer and that she had to continue her paper.

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A rapping noise echoed throughout Claire's temporary room. So in tune with typing up her paper, she had failed to notice the constant noise. It was not until banging sounds pounded the room that it caught her attention. Annoyed beyond belief, Claire marched over to the window and harshly threw away the blue curtains. "Ahh!" Claire yelled as she fell backwards. In front of her window was Jack sitting on one of the tree branches. He cheekily waved his cap to her.

"Jack!" Claire whispered harshly as she opened the window; her head looked back and forth. "What are you doing over there?"

Jack climbed into her room. Patting his jeans off from any dust he might have accumulated, he said to her, "Well, the Inn was close and you weren't out so I thought I'd come over and ask you if you want to go see the Harvest Moon with me tonight."

Climbing on to her bed, Claire faced Jack. "Harvest Moon?"

Jack leaned against the wall, playing with a piece of paper from her desk. "Yeah. Well, it's basically watching the full moon at Mother's Hill. It's like a holiday over here."

Claire looked thoughtful. "That explains why all the stores are closed today."

"Yeah." Claire watched him shuffle his feet. "So you're interested in seeing it?" Jack said, though not meeting her eyes.

She flopped back on the mattress. 'I should be working on my paper…but I am interested in seeing the full moon from the mountain top. And I'll have Jack with me, so it won't be too awkward watching it by myself.' "Sure. Why not?"

"Great." Getting off the wall, Jack smiled to her as he headed toward the window. "I'll see you in front of the Inn at eight then?"

Claire looked at the clock. It was 5:30. "Ok. That'll give me some time to get ready, then."

He ducked his head as he carefully made his way to the branch. "See ya tonight." As soon as Jack was gone, Claire sighed.

"I might as well go take a shower."

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Jack was already outside waiting for her when Claire came out. Dressed in jeans and a hooded jacket, he stood leaning on the street lamp.

"Hey. Sorry to keep you waiting," Claire apologized. She had decided to dress for the weather, figuring that at Mother's Hill, the night would be extremely chilly. "Will there be anyone else coming to watch the moon?"

They started walking.

"There might be. This only happens once a year. It is the only time where the moon would get so full that it's as if you can reach out and touch them." Jack took a sneak glance at Claire.

"Really?" Claire was excited now. She had always thought moon-gazing was one of those things that people needed to do in life. And at the peak, it looked like one could touch the sky as well. Never had the thought occurred that moon-gazing was usually one for a more romantic setting. It had been so long since Claire had dated. School was taking her time as well as labs, volunteer and clinical work. In fact, it was often a running joke among science majors that a person's boyfriend or girlfriend was his or her lab or hospital. Other couples were in front of them. Claire recognized Ann with Cliff and Manna dragging Duke along. 'Today's Wednesday. I wondered if he's going?' Claire nearly snorted. 'With his disposition, it's highly unlikely that he would attend.' All of the sudden, she felt herself being pulled back toward Jack. "What the…?" Lost and confused in the sudden change of motion, a part of her body fell onto him.

Jack managed to catch Claire. But the descent was not really that deep. If he had not caught her, she would have just tripped over her feet. In the end, he had caught her anyway so it did not really matter that much. He helped Claire stood up. "Sorry, Claire. I should have warned you that you were going to step into that puddle over there."

On Claire's path, there was a large mud puddle just sitting there...waiting to be stepped on. Once she got herself orientated, she realized that they had passed by Jack's farm and now they had entered area where the lake was. Stepping back a bit, she put her hands to her hips as she glared at Jack. "Yeah, you could have warned me at least." Then she started walking. "Thanks anyway." Claire did not look back; she just kept on going.

"Wait up!" Jack ran to catch up to Claire.

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There were several other people on top of the mountain, Claire noted. Blankets were spread around and food was scattered amongst the blankets. People chattered in low tones, giving an aura of privacy. Claire was shocked to find that almost the whole village was here, witnessing this event. Jack gave a slow whistle. "Boy, this is going to be tough. Hey, Claire. Why don't you go walk around here for a bit while I go find us a good spot?" He rolled his eyes when he mentioned 'good spot'. With this many viewers, it was highly likely that some, if not all, of the best spots were already taken.

Taking Jack's suggestion, Claire walked around the area. She made sure not to stray too far as she was not familiar with the mountain at all. "I wonder if this event has any historical tradition to it?" Claire asked herself.

"Claire…darling." A long drawl came from her left.

Claire turned to the sound of the voice. Once she saw who the person was, she forced herself to politely smile at the person. "Manna!" Claire said in a shocked tone. "Do you watch this yearly?" Claire asked, referring to the Harvest Moon holiday.

Manna laughed as she covered her smile. "Yes. It's one of the few events that I can enjoy spending with Duke here." Getting closer to Claire, Manna lowered her voice. "Though I always had to drag Duke out to come watch the moon, otherwise he would be drinking tonight in his cellar."

Before Claire was able to respond, Manna quickly interrupted her. "So…who are you with?" There was a sly tone in Manna's, one that summed up impending gossip should Claire answer. Then again, Claire realized, she would have to tell Manna, because there was a slight chance that she might bump into Jack.

Either way, Claire was doomed, she figured. "I'm here with Jack," Claire casually replied. She even included a shrug of her shoulders in her posture.

"Oh. I _see_," Manna said to Claire, her eyes slightly widening a bit as she put a hand over her mouth as if she was hiding her shock.

Claire narrowed her eyes. She did not like where this was going at all. Manna could be a pretty decent person to talk to, Claire concluded. Unfortunately for her, Manna struck Claire as two-faced. One face, the gossiping one, happened to dominate Manna most of the time. 'What's taking him so long?' Claire thought about Jack's lateness and hoped that he would come back before Manna started harassing her for some information; no doubt any information that Manna managed to get from Claire would soon be all over the town. Claire watched Manna slowly forming the words that would soon doom Claire until someone interrupted.

"There you are, Claire. I've been looking for you. Jack sent me to fetch you."

A familiar voice washed over Claire. Without turning to see who spoke to her, she knew. There was no way she could not know who the owner of that voice was. 'But,' Claire pondered to herself, 'why is he here and not Jack?' She could hear the annoyance coming from the fetching part.

Claire faced Trent. "Really? Where is he, then?"

There was a slight shift in his posture. For a split second, Claire had thought Trent looked uncomfortable from her question. "He's with Elli." Trent looked at Claire, expecting to see her reaction to the revelation.

Claire was startled with Trent looked at her. A part of her did not know what to expect out of this. 'Is he expecting something?' Claire thought. She did not want to speculate this any further; for all she knew, that look could have meant anything. Another part of her scolded her for being too paranoid and looking into his actions too deeply. Somewhere deep in her mind, she remembered that she needed to respond back to Tim. But what her response would be, Claire did not know. Frankly, she didn't care that Jack was with Elli at the moment. "I see. Well, if he's with Elli, then I'm guessing he found a spot."

Trent nodded. "Yes. Quite near to us actually. Read to go?"

"Yeah. Let's go," Claire said a bit weakly; she found herself shivering due to the unexpected low temperature. She knew that tonight would be cold, but she had not expected the temperature to be this low. Realizing that Manna was still there, Claire stopped and turned back towards her. Somehow during the moment, she had started to follow Trent without realizing her actions. "Sorry, Manna. But I have to go now. Have fun spending the time moon-gazing with Duke."

Manna giggled. She played with her skirt. "Oh, I will. Have fun with _Jack_." Knowing eyes left Claire as Manna head back to her own blanket. But to Claire, it felt as if those eyes had never left.

Inwardly Claire sighed. Her feet were following Trent's, but her mind did not pay attention to the surrounding area. Claire had a hunch that in the following days, she would be the main topic amongst the gossipers. Momentarily, she wondered if this was how Jack felt when he first moved to Mineral Town. The stares. The supposedly quiet whispers. The atmosphere.

"What do you think of this?" Trent asked Claire, who looked like she was having an inner conversation with herself. When he had found out that Claire was watching the moon with Jack, he wondered if Claire knew the legend behind the event.

Claire's mind paused to think about Trent's question. "It's alright." She paused. "But…I noticed that most of the people here are usually couples."

Trent raised an eyebrow at that admission. "Not all of them are together romantically you know." There was a slight amusement in his tone as he watched her fumbled for a bit.

"I know that!" Claire screeched; her hand itched to whack the smirk of his face. She forced herself to calm down and look reasonable. "It's just that, there was an excluded atmosphere coming from each one that is very similar to a loving couple. An intrusion of privacy."

"Then I guess you don't know about the legend to this then." Trent said it as more of a statement than an observation.

"There is a legend to this?" There was a curious expression on Claire's face. She was shocked to find that there was something mystical about watching the Harvest Moon.

"That's what I said didn't I?" Trent teased her.

One week ago, Trent had signed himself up for potential headaches when he agreed to have Claire help him out around the clinic. One week ago, he had found her irritating. Of course, he still did find Claire irritating. But during that course of time, Trent found himself highly amused whenever he teased the poor thing. He had not teased anyone for a long time. Not since Elli started working with him as his nurse. When Elli first started working, Trent had teased her mercilessly. But soon found her reactions to his teasing a bit lacking. In fact, it took away the humor. Watching Elli flustered and stuttering around him was not really appealing; nothing like Claire's reactions to his teasing. With Claire, it was like toying with a small harmless kitten. If he had to compare the reactions between Claire and Elli, Claire was a kitten and Elli would be a mouse. 'Hmm. The kitty doesn't look too happy. I better placate her.'

Trent was right. Claire was not happy at all. 'If only he weren't my superior I would…' Claire made a list of all the things she wanted to do to him. The conversation had started being civil and continued being civil to the point that Claire almost forgot her dislike of the man. That was until he responded. Then things went downhill in Claire's mind. "Pray tell, oh mighty one. What is this legend that I seek to know?" There was a haughty worship tone that she did not need to physically bow to Trent; it was already done.

"Well, Claire…" There was a slight smirk to Trent's face. "Legend has it that when two people spend the night watching the Harvest Moon, there is a special bond. A bond that can't be broken for it is said that the moon spirit foresees everlasting love between those two people. So whomever you spend the night with watching this moon, you'll be with that person forever."

Complete silence reigned. But it was broken by the sound of Trent's laughter. "Did you really believe that for a moment?" At the same time, Claire had already moved her mouth.

"And everyone believes the legend?" Sarcasm dripped from Claire's tongue as she folded her arms together. She was skeptical of what the doctor had told her, but she could not deny that some part of her believed the legend—not that she would said that aloud.

Trent continued with his chuckling. "No. Not really. It's just something for people to enjoy."

"I see," Claire said, as she looked away from Trent. They had settled walking at a casual pace as the moon as not at maximum point in the sky.

Claire was dying to know who the doctor had gone with to see this event, though she had a pretty good hunch that his reason for attending was because of his nurse—Elli. "Are you here with Elli?" she blurted out unintentionally. Claire tried very hard to stop herself from covering her mouth in surprise.

"Yes."

"Huh." Claire looked to the side. She felt…a bit heart-wrenched when he replied 'yes.' Trent must have mistaken her expression as disbelief, for he continued.

"Elli wanted to witness the event, but her family was unable to attend and she didn't want to go by herself, so I accompanied her."

"Oh, I see." There was a pause. Then Claire smirked at Trent. "Such a _nice_ guy."

He scoffed, but played Claire's little game. "Nice enough to let you help out at the clinic."

Claire twittered, she was about to say something when someone interrupted her.

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AN: Evil way to end the chapter, but I'm going to have to post this as two parts since chapter 4 is getting a bit long and we're not even at the climax point (of this chapter) yet. …I think. Maybe we're already there? We'll see in the second part. Beta'ed by The Scarlet Sky.


	5. Harvest Moon Event Part B

**Medicinal Love**

Chapter 4 Part B

Author's Note: Part two of chapter 4! Beta'ed by The Scarlet Sky.

--

_Part 2_

"What's taking you guys so long?" Jack walked over to where they were, Elli by his side.

One last quick glare was thrown at Trent before Claire smiled sweetly at the approaching pair. "Sorry that we made you guys wait. An annoying animal stopped us and I got distracted by it."

There was a boyish smile from Jack, his eyes holding a slight spark. "Don't sweat about it, Claire. I've already set things up at the site. Shall we go?" He half-bowed to Claire, a hand extended to her.

Amused by the exaggerated chivalry, Claire went along with Jack's little game. She took his hand and he straightened up. Trent watched as those two walked away laughing. He was put off at how Jack was behaving toward Claire, even more so with Claire's behavior toward Jack. A long sigh came from the right. Elli was looking at the couple with jealously and wistfulness. "Don't you think they'll make a cute couple?"

When he heard that, Trent wanted to snort in disbelief, but thought that would be too out of character for Elli. "With her in a relationship, who knows what catastrophe she might incur." Apparently, Elli had not heard what he'd said, for she looked at him rather curiously. He continued to stare off into the distance. Timidly, Elli pulled his sleeve, catching his attention. "What?" Surprised at the pull, Trent looked at Elli questioningly. "Oh, right. We should hurry before it's too late."

--

The sky was devoid of any roaming clouds. There was stillness everywhere; only the sounds of small-talk made some indication that they were not alone. The temperature had gone down to an enjoyable coolness. On their right, there was another couple sitting on the blanket. It was Elli and Trent, Claire noticed.

"Nice view, don't you think?" Hands behind him, Jack leaned backwards. When Claire said 'yes' to his invitation, he was more than pleased. Claire was fun to hang around with and, being someone that came from a city, there were many things that they could talk about, something he couldn't do with the other girls in this town.

There was no doubt about it, Claire concluded as she gazed the moon. "Reallll nice Jack. So much nicer than the one back home." Stars twinkled back and forth. There was a parade of them. "The air pollution is so much better here…." Claire trailed off as she reminisced the smog that would form a thick layer in the sky. Her hand grabbed one of the moon dumplings that Jack had prepared for. Hadn't he said something about how it was tradition to bring moon dumplings during the Harvest Moon event?

"Mmm. Yeah it does. One of the better qualities about Mineral Town," Jack flicked some dust off the palm of his hand.

Awkward silence wedged between them. It was as if, subconsciously, both of them knew that there should be something more to this moon-gazing. Uneasy at the sudden high level tension, Claire spoke. "How long is this event anyway, Jack?"

"The whole night." A teasing grin appeared on Jack's face. "Why? Bored already?" He lowered his voice, making it sound all husky. "If you want, we could do a bit of our own fun." Jack raised his eyebrows suggestively.

Whatever mood Claire was in was immediately destroyed by Jack's 'playfulness'. She looked at him with aversion. Truthfully, she does not know whether Jack was playing around with her or not. But she did not want to stay and find out. She scoffed at him as she stood up, arms crossed. "Despicable, Jack. Find someone else to have 'a bit of fun' with."

Realizing his mistake, Jack tried to grab one of Claire's wrists but missed as she pulled it back closer to her body. Without taking one last glance at him, Claire promptly left, not knowing that the couple nearest to them had witnessed the scene.

Claire stood at the bottom of the mountain. When she had left, she had not heard Jack following her. Feeling that it was safe enough, Claire slowed her pace down quite a bit. Claire stopped. "I'm…still…not…used to this much." She heaved her lungs. "Exercise." She leaned back against the mountain wall.

"Claire!"

'Elli?' Claire was curious as to why Elli was down here instead of up there with…him.

Elli, lifting her skirt so that she would not step on it as she ran, looked rather worriedly. She managed to reach to Claire, a red hue covering both her cheeks. "Are you alright?" Elli placed a hand on Claire's shoulder, hoping that would offer some sort of comfort for the poor girl. "Did Jack hurt you?"

Another set of footsteps appeared. Claire glanced over Elli to see who it was. 'It can't be him…can it?' Claire questioned herself, but knew deep down that there could be no other answer. Who else came with Elli? No one but Trent.

Claire's mind went back to pay attention to Elli. She gave her a relaxing smile. "He didn't hurt me at all Elli." Claire gently took Elli's hand off her shoulder. Even though Claire had a hunch that Elli was the motherly type, she was still touched that Elli had shown consideration for her.

"So the date went sour?" Trent appeared in front of the women, smug about something that Claire would not find out until later—much later.

The corners of her lip dropped deeply. "How many times do I have to say this? It. Was. Not. A. Date." Accentuating each word filled with venom and annoyance. "Got that? It was just two friends having a good time watching the moon."

A small noise was made.

Claire looked at Trent. There was an unreadable expression on her face. "Did you just snort at that?!" A bit of disbelief laced her voice.

Tim scoffed. "As if I'd do such a thing." Dark eyes penetrated blue eyes.

Forgotten by the two, Elli placed her input. "He's right, Claire. It's not like the doctor to snort."

'Makes me wonder how much of Trent she sees,' Claire thought, as she looked puzzled at Elli's statement. Deciding to tease Elli, Claire leaned in close so that only she could hear her. "Ah, but right now he's not doctor. Right now…he's human." Leaning back to her original posture, Claire continued, "Just like the rest of us."

Before Elli could protest, Claire cut her off. With her hands behind her head, Claire moved away from the pair. "Well, thanks for checking to see how I am. But tonight's the Harvest Moon festival, and I feel pretty bad taking that time away from you guys. Have fun, you two!" Saying the last sentence panged Claire, but she did not know why. She just knew it did. So lost in her thoughts as she crossed over the bridge, she failed to notice someone following her.

Claire shrieked as a hand grabbed her arm. She whirled around, clenching her fist as she aimed to attack the prowler. A loud crack echoed the atmosphere. Claire gasped as the figure bowled over. She did not know whether to apologize like crazy or to self-indulge in her accomplishment when she saw whom she had punched. Claire sighed, resolved. Crouching down next to the figure, she gently tilted his chin to look at the damage she had inflicted. "It doesn't hurt that much, does it?"

He groaned when she touched the swollen cheek. "Do you do this to anyone who annoys you?"

"Be glad that I punched you on the cheek. There are other places that I can injure a great deal," Claire snapped at him. The cheek didn't look too swollen. Standing up, Claire crossed her arms "Besides, why are you down here," she spread her arms out to show the landscape that surrounded them, "instead of up there with Elli?"

Something flickered in his eyes when she mentioned Elli. Trent glanced sideways, as if he was avoiding Claire's stare. "A woman such as yourself," ('Albeit one very capable of defending herself,' Trent thought as he rubbed his injury), "shouldn't be walking alone this late."

Claire didn't know whether to be shocked or to laugh at the insanity of it all. "You know, I'd expect this coming from Jack, not you."

There was a slight twitch coming from Trent, but Claire wasn't too sure because even though there was a full moon, it was still too dark to clearly see anything. "The way you put it, Claire, you make it seem like I can never be charming."

Claire feigned shock when she heard the word 'charming.' "You? Charming? So there is a side of you that can be…sweet?"

Annoyed, Trent lost his refined coolness and snapped back. "Yes! Is it really that hard to imagine? I'm escorting you back whether you like it or not."

She wanted to scream at the top of her lungs when she heard his strong resolution for 'seeing her home.' "Listen, Trent, I can take perfectly good care of myself. You can go back to Elli and watch the moon with her. I don't need someone to accompany me." She stepped away from him and turned her back on him.

A hand roughly pulled her back. For the second time that night, Claire felt her body falling backwards. She watched, wide-eyed, as Trent held her—making sure she did not fall.

Ta-thump. Da-thump. Ta-thump.

'This shouldn't be any different than when Jack caught me,' Claire thought, confused by the sudden tempo of her heartbeat. Blood was pounding in her veins as she fought to ignore the pulse on her neck. 'But why…is it so different with him?' She looked deep into Trent's expression. It unnerved her. "Why…are you so adamant on this?" Claire asked breathlessly.

"I don't want to see you get hurt." Trent set her upright and brushed away a strand of hair that had fallen across her face.

When his fingers lightly skimmed over her forehead, her breathing hitched. A howl echoed throughout the woods, and Claire jumped away: from the noise and Trent's touch. "H—how?" Claire asked, confused as to why he would be so worried about her getting hurt. Crimes didn't exist in Mineral Town at all. The town was such a tight-knit community; everyone would know who committed what.

Seeing the nervous expression on Claire's face, Trent collected himself and reverted back to his usual 'prim and proper' self. "There are wild dogs that roam around the woods at night. You'll see them more in the fall than any other season. Which is why I should accompany you," he sighed. "I don't want to fix you up if you get injured."

That comment snapped Claire out of her unusual daze, her eyebrow twitching as she glared at Trent. "Oh, that's nice. Though if you walk me home and the wild dogs attack you, who's going to fix you up? In case you've forgotten, you're the only doctor around here."

Trent cocked an eyebrow. "I don't remember saying anything about shielding you." Truthfully, Trent would have protected Claire if any wild dogs had come. But she didn't need to know that. He watched as she sputtered around indignantly. 'Who knew she could place so many different emotions in her expression?'

Claire blew another strand of hair off her face. "Fine! If you want to follow me, go ahead. I don't care anymore." Turning her heels, she promptly walked away, hoping to create some sort of distance between herself and that joker. Trent stopped his inward chuckling and quickly followed her out of the hills.

--

They had crossed the Blue Moon farm and were now on their way to the town's square. Walking through the village was chilling for Claire. She felt uneasy, though that uneasiness came from the fact that she would be attacked by animals rather than people—something that was unlikely at her college or in any society in particular. The emptiness of the square only served to remind her of the fact that she was walking with Trent: just him and her.

The moon was steadily raising its peak, a fact that neither Claire nor Trent were aware of. Taking a swift left on the road to the Inn, Claire reminded Trent. "You can leave me now and go back to Elli. The inn's just right around the corner."

"My, my, so rude to the one person who's making sure you're safe. Aren't you a grateful person?" There was a slight smirk from Trent. "I'm not going back until I see you enter through those doors."

Claire counted to ten as she reminded herself to not do anything stupid after hearing the sarcasm dripping out of his mouth with the words "grateful person." 'Just get in so he can leave,' Claire assured herself, confident that she would not be spending any more time with him. 'I feel pretty bad for Elli….' Claire had heard rumors of how the nurse was infatuated with the local doctor, but was not reciprocated with his affections. 'Here I am taking some of that precious time away from Elli.' Knowing that made Claire feel like the other woman, even though Trent was not seeing anymore at the moment. Claire sighed.

Trent watched many emotions fly across Claire's features: one of annoyance, anger, contemplativeness, and finally, sadness. He was about to ask her what was wrong, but then he remembered that he had no place to ask her that. So he settled for something else. "The door is not going to open by itself, you know."

Surprised and confused, Claire's eyes strayed from Trent to her hand—that was centimeters away from the handle. She scowled. "I knew that! I was waiting for you to leave."

"I will once you enter."

Claire groaned in frustration. She grabbed on the handle firmly and tugged. The door would not budge. A couple more shakes later, Claire still found herself stranded outside the inn. 'No, no. This can't be happening to me!' Claire cried in her mind, but noticed there was a slight elevation of joy when she realized that she would spend more time with him. 'Why? Why does someone hate me?' She denied the possibility that such a positive feeling could exist at the mere thought of spending more time with the jerk.

It was near midnight. Two hours had passed by since Claire left Jack. "You're seriously going to wait with me until I'm safely inside, aren't you?" Tired eyes sought the usual posture of the doctor's as Trent nodded in agreement, arms crossed.

Confused by Trent's decision, Claire asked him, "Won't Elli mind?"

He waved it off as if it meant nothing to him. "She'll understand." Seeing how Claire was still unsure about the decision, he reassured her. "Elli's a kind and caring person. She wouldn't be a nurse if she didn't care about other people's welfare."

"You don't get it," Claire said to him, disbelief flickering across her face.

Trent scrunched up his face as he stared intently at Claire. "Get what?" She started to leave. "Where are you going?"

"Away from the idiocy of men," was her only answer as he watched her figure grow smaller with each step.

--

Waves gently treaded the shore as they teasingly touched the sands with their beckoning chill. Legs dangling off the pier, Claire spoke, "Why are you here?" without glancing to see who was there. It was a rhetorical question whose answer was known, but that was used to break the cold tension.

Trent sat down right next to her as he faced the ocean. "I told you already, didn't I? Must I repeat myself constantly for you?"

There was no answer from Claire. Nothing at all. She played with the hem of her shirt, and after a moment of hesitation, she began to speak. "…You win." As she said this, she was fervently looking at anything but the person next to her.

Watching her like that, Trent wanted to grin goofily but stopped before that could happen. Unbeknownst to him, a smile leaked. Claire took a sneaky glance at him to see whether he was smirking in his 'I knew it' expression or not. Instead, she saw a very different person. 'Who knew a smile could do so much.' Claire turned away before he noticed her staring at him. 'He…looks…' She could find no other words to describe him.

Her face flushed at the memory of his smile. 'Am I blushing?' Claire placed a hand on her cheek. It felt like she was blushing, but it was hard to tell because everything around her was cold, except for the body heat next to her. 'Oh no.' Sudden realization dawned on Claire as she recalled past feelings and signs that appeared whenever she was in the same approximately as Trent. 'No. No. I do not have a crush on him! I can't have a crush on him. This must be a fluke. Yes, a fluke. It's been so long that my heart must be ticking wrong.'

While Claire was struggling with her inner turmoil, Trent, on the other hand, was enjoying everything. The scenery, the girl sitting next to him, everything. In his opinion, this had been the best Harvest Moon event. With Elli, he noted, everything was dull. The same routine played repeatedly. He had not felt this relaxed in ages.

Trent watched as the moon reached its peak. He had lost track of time since they had been sitting at the pier. "Claire? It's getting cold. You can sleep…" He stopped as he saw Claire's head nodding up and down continuously. Eyes closed and mouth slightly opened, he watched her sleep. A small chuckle left his mouth. Tim stared at her; unconsciously, he pulled her toward him. An arm around her waist, he made sure she was comfortable before continuing gazing at the moon.

"So very different from last year's…," he muttered, tugging the body closer to him. Trent didn't even notice that the moon had gotten brighter.

------------------------------------------------

AN: How do you guys like that? Best scene in my opinion ^.^. Again I like to thank The Scarlet Sky for taking her time editing this.


	6. Fall Season Part 3

**Medicinal Love**

Chapter 5

_Date: Fall 14 Year 2_

Birds chirped outside Claire's window as they flocked around each other, and Claire scrunched her eyes at the invading light that poured in from the window. Half twisting her body around the sheets, Claire reluctantly opened her eyes and grabbed the alarm clock that was on the stand.

"Ugh," she moaned as she let go of herself. 'What happened last night?' She looked around the room. "How did I get in my bed?" Claire placed a hand to her forehead, and groaned. "Last thing I remember I was at the pier and...," her voice trailed off, the realization hitting her. Stunned, Claire leapt out of her bed and raced downstairs.

"There's no way he would do that," Claire muttered to herself, searching for either Doug or Ann. Surely they must have known who had taken her to her room. Her eyes searched through the main room and she sighed. "I guess everyone must be sleeping in right now, if anything Jack said was right."

Trudging up the steps, she went back to her room. Shutting the door, she flopped on her chair and turned on her laptop. "Time to get working," Claire announced as she cracked her hands and began on her thesis.

_------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

_Date: Fall 19 Year 2_

Many days passed while Claire stayed holed up in her room, constantly working on typing out her thesis with what she had learned so far from the clinic. Right now, she was on her tenth page. Papers with diagrams and statistics lay in a clutter around her. There were bags underneath her eyes and hair mussed up from lack of care.

"And so due to the..." Claire muttered out what she typed, words formulating in her mind as she dazedly glanced at the screen before her.

_Knock. Knock._

The sound broke her train of thought. Claire frustratingly silenced her scream. "Who is it?" she yelled at the door, releasing some of her pent-up anger.

A muffled voice was heard, "It's Rick."

Her anger vanished at the name. It has been a while since Claire last seen Rick, not since that day where she was sent to fetch the doctor. Claire frowned a little at that thought. He was her first friend, and she had plainly ignored him for the past days. She opened the door, and answered, "Come in Rick."

Rick smiled at her. "Thanks Claire," he replied as he looked around her room. "I see that you've been quite busy lately." His mouth frowned a little. "I'm not interrupting anything am I?" Rick asked, worried that he had disturbed some great finding.

Blonde locks flew back and forth as Claire shook her head. "Nah. You came at the right time. I needed a break anyway." She swayed a little bit and Rick moved over to where she stood, his arms extending out to make sure she didn't fall again.

"When was the last time you ate Claire?" Rick's eyes raked over her figure: a hunch pose, paling skin and a tired expression.

Claire unconsciously bit her lip as she tried to recall when exactly was the last time she ate. "I think...last night. However, I don't know what I ate. I've been too focused on this paper for the past few days. That and one too many cups of coffee."

Rick furrowed his eyebrows. "I think you need to get a check up." He pulled her forward. "The doctor should be available right now."

She yanked away from Rick instantly. Heart beating irregularly, Claire shook her head. "I'm fine Rick. I just need some sleep and I'll be dandy as a chicken."

"Claire," Rick sighed in distress, "I'm concerned about you. Please, go see the doctor. You've been working too hard."

The room was spinning for Claire as she swayed back and forth once more. As she was about to tumble into the darkness, her last thought was, 'Great. Here we go again.'

_------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Familiar lights and walls greeted her as Claire opened her eyes. "Why is there only one clinic in this forsaken town?" she mumbled as she tried to sit up. The lights were too bright for her and everything was quite. Only the sound of her breathing resonance the room.

"Took you long enough to wake up," a familiar voice greeted her. Shuffling footsteps sounded from behind her, and Claire inwardly groaned; he was the last person she wanted to see. The fact that she would have to see him every Wednesday was certainly bad enough.

"Where's Rick?" Claire asked as she glanced around the room. 'How long have I been here?' she wondered in horror.

Trent looked at the clipboard. "He left. It was getting too dark and that he had to check up on the chickens."

Disorientated, Claire laid back on the bed. "Wa...what do you mean 'it took me long enough to wake up'? And what's this about it being 'too dark'?" Apparently the after effects of sleep still lingered.

He merely glanced at his clipboard, his pen dancing across it as he scrawled away. "Apparently you've exhausted yourself to the point that you have no stamina and an extreme level of fatigue." The scribbling on the clipboard stopped as he turned to intensely look at her. "What exactly did you do to warrant this type of behavior?"

Claire's eyebrows rose at how the doctor eloquently used his words; nevertheless, she responded truthfully. Now it was his turn to raise his eyebrows. There was a standoff contest between the two as their eyes battled dominance: her actions versus his skepticism. Neither one of them wanted to be the first one to break eye contact. Eyes getting blurry, Claire blinked in anguish. Ignoring the victory smirk on his face, she felt that she had to ask this question. "Did...."

She couldn't say it. She could not ask Trent if he went back to Elli that night.

"Did I...?" Tim prodded.

Mind racing, Claire quickly replied, "Did you want me to stay the night here?" A part of her did not believe that a person with such a high position would ever ask something like that. Not unless she was a patient who barely passed the threshold of critical condition, that is, and was in danger of becoming unstably healthy. Over the past few weeks of working with him, it allowed her to see what kind of doctor he was; someone who cared deeply for his patients.

Right after she had spoken, an air of tension lingered. Trent did not know how to respond to that. He knew what other villagers thought of him—the silent, stoic, responsible type of person who had trouble expressing himself. He wished he could say that Claire shared the same perception as the rest of the townsfolk, but somehow, she was the only one to see a different side of him. The side that wanted her to stay the night, that is. However, he knew he must keep up the façade—and asking her to stay the night was not included. He had to be wary of showing his admiration for her. Deep inside, Trent knew that there would be pain should his relationship with Claire go any further than friendship. He didn't know if taking a step further would be worth it, compared to the pain that would surely follow. Of course he was not idiotic enough to deny that he had feelings for her; he just didn't want them to go past the point-of-no-return. Right now, it was just a crush; a mere infatuation that he had not felt for the longest time.

'It's been awhile since I asked that question. I hope I didn't stupefy him,' Claire thought worriedly as she sat awaiting his response. Suddenly, her mind flashed back to her first day helping out at the clinic.

_Flashback_

It was a bright and sunny day. It was a day that anyone with a sense of joy could imagine themselves prancing around the merry pole to celebrate. There was Zack heading toward the supermarket for his routinely shopping. The local priest, Carter, was praying for the departed before he opened the church. To everyone else, nothing big was happening. Too bad Claire was not everyone else.

It was less than twelve hours after she had made that deal with Trent. Moreover, a part of her already dreaded the time she would have to give when she worked with him. 'Come on, Claire, you can do this. Do well and you can show those other competitors who's boss.' It is a very ugly world in the field of science, especially the medical field (as competition can get ugly between friends). Though, Claire frowned, she really did not know why she was irrational when it came to the doctor. 'Maybe we just had a bad start?'

Stepping across the stone pavement, Claire hesitantly knocked on a white door. Dainty steps barely echoed from across the other side; the knob twisted. A mop of brown hair with kind eyes—also wearing what seemed to be an old-fashioned nurse uniform—greeted her. "Morning Claire." A bright smile lit up the young woman's face. "I didn't expect you to come this early."

Claire shuffled her feet about. "I was told to come here around this time..." she said, her voice trailing off. She was directly looking at the nurse before her. They stood there as seconds passed; to Claire, it felt like one hour had passed instead of five seconds. "And you are...?"

"Oh! I'm terribly sorry. How rude of me. I'm Elli," she explained as she led Claire inside. There were a couple of benches in what appeared to be the waiting room. Elli randomly pointed toward one of them. "Please be seated. The doctor will be with you in a moment."

Fazed by the similar procedure that she had gone through whenever she visited the doctor's office, Claire meekly flopped down on a sea-green bench, wincing as her back slammed against the hard cold wall. By then, Elli had already returned to the front desk; there was a ball of yarn nearby and a couple of picks. Claire did not have to wait long before the doctor himself arrived at the foot of the stairs.

He looked at her. An aura of indifference toward her surrounded him, and their eyes met. Eyebrow rose in curiosity as he commented, "Oh? You're here quite early. Rather enthusiastic aren't you?"

"Of course," Claire smiled brightly at Trent. "Why wouldn't I? If it means a chance to work with _you_."

Tim snapped the folder shut; a harsh tone echoed. "Well then, shall we?" He walked into the next room as Claire proceeded to follow him. After he explained the tasks that she was required to perform, he left her to work and went over to his office.

_------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Droplets from the pipette plummeted into the beaker. So far, Claire had already completed her tasks of making the herbal medicines: Bodigizer, Turbojolt, Bodigizer XL and Turbojolt XL. Who knew the process could be so long and daunting? Then again, it was not surprising since really all she was doing was extracting the herbs' properties away from solid form and converting that into liquid form. Right now, she was currently working on creating a medicine that would help recover both fatigue and energy. Trent gave her some leaves that he thought might be suitable enough to work without causing the drinker some side-effects, like fainting or regurgitating to get rid of the medicine. Still, what could she say, really? Fingering the pink grass, she brought it up to her face and sniffed. "Is this an Elli Grass?" she whispered to herself, having seen a vague detail picture of what it might look like from the herbology book.

"Never seen anything like it before?" A book was settled in front of her. Caught off-guard by this intruder's voice, she nearly tore the pink herb in half.

"Do you always creep up on people?" Claire retorted.

Trent gave her a meaningless rueful grin. "Only when they least suspect it." The tone was business like, but Claire could sense the sarcasm that was hidden underneath layers and layers of professionalism.

A pretty grin spread across her lips. "Hearing you say that makes you seem like a creeper, you know."

"Could we get on with the matter? Unless you feel like you're not ready to experience this kind of work, Miss Claire," Trent said with a serious expression on his face.

Inwardly, Claire felt like a schoolgirl being scolded by her teacher for messing around—something that she did not like experiencing. 'Still thinking that I'm incapable to do this, I see. That I'm just someone who's only bluffing her skills in lab work.' Her eyes narrowed slightly. 'I'll prove to you that I am capable of helping you out and that I'm not to be underestimated.'

"Well then, shall we get started...Doctor?"

_------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

After much debating about what to do with the Elli Grass extract on matters of what ingredients should be added to create this medicine, the two decided to take a quick break.

His eyes stared at her, unreadable. "What made you visit Mineral Town?"

Claire took a sip of water from her bottle. "For...research." In a way, writing a thesis was something like a research. One must gather the information to support the hypothesis.

"Interesting," Trent said, watching her carefully. "And what might your research might be about? If I remember correctly, something about a thesis...."

"How did you know about the thesis?" Claire was shocked; she didn't think she had told anyone about the reason why she was here...well, perhaps just one. Now she wasn't too sure anymore.

A quirk of the upper lip was all that showed on his face. "You'll be surprised at how quick information can travel in here."

Claire mumbled, "I'll bet. Gossipers." Reverting back to her normal tone, she explained to him the reason why she was here and what her thesis was going to be about.

When Trent heard about what she was planning to do during her stay, he gained a bit of newfound respect for Claire despite himself. The quiet ticking of the clock made him glance away and he sighed. "It's getting late. We should stop where we are and continue this some other time."

"What?" Claire exclaimed. "But we haven't made any progress on it."

"We would have if you didn't spend so much time staring at it," Tim retorted.

Claire scoffed, though not denying that she did spend more time than necessarily staring at the herb. Gathering her notes, Claire stuffed them in a bag. "What about Rick's mom...? Won't she need the medicine?" Claire felt especially concerned about that, since the project that they were currently working on was to help Lillia, but with the way things were going, Claire feared that it would be too late.

Trent shook his head. "Don't worry about it. As of now, the medicine that Lillia is on will stabilize her for awhile."

Claire looked unsure, but the next comment placated her.

"Claire...I don't risk the lives of others if I do not believe that the medicine will help them. Trust me on this. I will not fail my duty as a doctor," Trent strongly affirmed. Fire burned in his eyes so fiercely that Claire could not help but nod. "I'll expect you on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, then."

Claire held on to the handle of the knob. "Alright. I'll see you then." Opening the door, Claire went through and quietly closed it behind her.

_End of Flashback_

"-aire."

"Cl--."

"...Claire!" Trent's voice scared her out of her moment's lapse.

Fervently clearing out her mind, she looked at Trent. "Yeah?"

He cleared his throat. "I think it's best if you stay the night. We wouldn't want to risk of you being attack by wild dogs. Rick will injure me if anything were to happen to you."

Claire faintly smiled. "Yeah, I think he would too." She glanced around. "So...where am I sleeping?"

_------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Author's note: This chapter gave me a hard time. I have a pretty good idea as to how the ending is going to be, but the stuff after the harvest moon event...I have no clue. So updates might be a little bit longer than wished for. Please review! Beta'ed by The Scarlet Sky.


	7. Fall Season Part 4

**Medicinal Love**

**Chapter 6**

_Date: Fall 20 Year 2_

Claire's sleeping arrangement had been settled; as it turned out, Elli would be sharing the room with her. Finding herself in a small, dainty, girly room, Claire stood near the door awkwardly. "Thanks again for letting me stay here for the night, Elli."

Elli laughed quietly to herself, her hand in front of her mouth. "It's nothing, Claire. I can't let you sleep on the patient's bed when you're not a patient yourself, now can I?" With a fragile hand, she motioned Claire to come over. "It's not much, but I hope you'll feel comfortable enough." A small futon was laid across from the bed.

"Say, Elli, if you don't mind me asking, but I'm just rather curious," Claire asked her, stomach pressing down to the ground. "Why is it that you're living with _Mister Doctor _here?" Claire figured she must have said something she wasn't supposed to as she watched Elli, flustered, fighting to form an answer to the question.

"The doctor and I have…a professional relationship…and as his nurse, sometimes when he is called, I have to come as well," Elli finally answered after getting her thoughts together. Still uncomfortable about that subject, she moved on to a different topic. "Are you getting anything for the doctor's birthday?"

Claire slowly shook her head, lost. "No…" Claire answered slowly. "When is it?"

Elli pointed to the calendar near the table lamp. "Right on the 25th, the last Monday of Fall."

"Huh, I see." Claire nodded; a look of understanding crossed her features. She glanced over at Elli. "Did you get him anything?"

The nurse's face flushed at that. She walked over to the drawer and pulled out a small bag, showing the insides to Claire. Inside there were seeds. At Claire's inquisitive look, Elli explained to her, "They're seeds for Elli grass."

Claire smiled at Elli. "How did you manage to find them in the first place? From what I've heard, they're very difficult to get." She grinned further as she watched Elli blush at that statement. "You…" Claire drawled a bit, "…must have liked him a lot to go this far—"

Elli opened her mouth to protest, but was cut off.

"—Even for someone you greatly respected and admired." Claire flopped on her back, the softness of the futon cushioning the pain. "Is it true…that you have a crush on the local doctor?"

A repeated motion of mouth opening and closing was all that Claire saw from Elli. Then there was an air of defeat surrounding the nurse as she sighed, at a loss. "Was it that obvious?" she asked, fearful that maybe the doctor had seen it as well.

"Hmm. I'm pretty sure he doesn't know. But I'm afraid that most of the women here figured that out already," Claire said, tilting her head to the side. "So how long have you liked him?"

"Ever since I started working here, I guess," Elli whispered, as if saying this would mean that the doctor might be listening. "Maybe even longer than that."

Guilt, remorse, and shame washed over Claire, though she made sure none of that showed on the outside. Claire whistled. "That's a pretty long time. I don't know if I had any crushes that lasted that long." She laughed a bit, a mischievous twinkle appearing in her eyes. "So…have you made any progress with him?" It almost sounded like girl talk, Claire thought to herself with a smile—something she hadn't done with a friend in ages.

Clouds of depression rolled off Elli. Alarmed, Claire quickly insisted, "It can't be that bad, right? I'm sure by now he must have warmed up to you." 'At some point hopefully,' Claire thought to herself. She figured a guy like him might be very hard to warm up to, regardless of his profession.

Elli remained silent and Claire frowned. "How about I help you out with him?" Deep inside, she felt the pain seize her as she spoke. "All you guys need is a little push." The pain throbbed harder and faster, but Claire still maintained a pleasant look on her face.

"Oh!" Elli gasped. "But I can't let you do that." Worried and perhaps a bit scared as to whether this would be a success or not, she bit her lip and wrung her hands anxiously.

Claire waved it off. "It's no problem, really. You're a great person and I think you'll make him happy. All he needs is to know your feelings." There were tears forming in her eyes as Elli hugged Claire. However, deep inside of her, Claire didn't feel the same level of happiness as she knew she should have for helping out a friend. Instead, she only felt heartache and a bit of lingering jealously that Elli, and not her, would have the opportunity to be with him.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Date: Fall 25 Year 2_

Days had passed by since Claire slept over at the clinic. True to her word, she had created opportunities for Trent and Elli to spend more time together in a relaxing, non-career oriented environment. Once while she was spying from the bushes, she noticed that Trent actually looked rather bored when with Elli. Because of that, she had upped the attempts. Of course, she had always made time to forage and work on her thesis. Just some more late nighters: something that she was used to thanks to school.

And so the next level of her attempts involved making meetings with the two of them without each other knowing. Needless to say, that route didn't go anywhere. Trent still remained the same way everyone in this village perceived him, which made Claire wondered how much of himself he was hiding. She had also made sure not to spend any unnecessary time with him. Any questions he asked that borderlined personal and unprofessional, she would quickly brush off. All in all, she pretty much was indifferent toward him. That didn't lessen the pain aching in her heart; in fact, it only made it worse. Yet Claire knew deep down that this was for the best.

It was already Trent's birthday. Sometime during the week—while she wasn't playing matchmaker—she had managed to finish her thesis and send it off to school (though finding a place that had a printer meant going back to the same port city that she left for the boat for Mineral Town). At the city, she managed to pick up a gift that she knew Trent would love since today was his birthday. She figured she would get him a present since, after all, he did gave her that opportunity to research in the lab (even though she had made a deal with him). Claire counted her money and silently thanked herself for spending her free time foraging for some extra cash. Currently, she could pay for the airline fee back to home; however, she still needed to forage more for the boat and hotel fees that she would use.

"Claire! There you are!" Elli's voice cried out as she came running toward her.

Claire turned around. There was a smile on her face. "Elli. How's the preparation going?"

"It's going well, though it was a bit difficult convincing the doctor to go out and gather some herbs as we are suddenly low on stock," Elli said. Then she eyed the small package in Claire's hand. "Is that your gift?" Claire nodded. Elli let out a huge smile. "That's great!" She glanced behind her. "Claire, do you think you could hold the doctor up for another hour?"

Claire slowly frowned. "Uh…why?"

A small giggle left Elli's lips. "To finish setting up the preparations silly, and to make sure the guests arrive before he gets back to the clinic." She grabbed Claire's hands and squeezed them, eyes pleading. "So can you please hold the doctor off one more hour?"

"Fine," Claire agreed as she released a sigh. She handed the package to Elli, telling her to look after that while she played babysitter for the oblivious birthday boy. "He's over by the usual area right?" Referring to Mineral Lake, obviously: home of the Kappa.

Elli gave her a smile and started to jog back to the clinic. "Thanks, Claire! I'll see you around 4pm, then."

It didn't take Claire that long to reach Mineral Lake, at least in her opinion. Maybe she was too deep in her thoughts as she debated on what she could do to distract Trent for an hour. Feet trudging against the worn-out path, she quickly spotted him. 'Well this is a first,' she thought she her eyes raked his outfit. Having left his doctor's uniform at the clinic, Trent had dressed in a new style of clothing that, oddly enough, reminded Claire of Basil's outfit [1].

"What's up Doc?" she asked as she approached him, imitating Bugs Bunny with a little grin.

A small smirk appeared on Trent's face. "Why, the sky, of course. I thought you'd be more down to earth."

"Oh, but I am, Trent. I am," Claire replied cheekily. Ever since that dreadful Harvest Moon event, she found herself enjoying more of Trent's company than she would have expected.

"A coin for your thoughts?" She sat down next to Trent, who was looking at the lake.

After acknowledging her presence, he turned to glance back at the lake. "You wouldn't have enough for every single thought."

"Well, you seem troubled," Claire said, taking note of his appearance. "And that is something that I don't see that often."

Trent was silent.

She prodded, "I bet you that if you spill, you should feel a lot lighter than before." Claire flashed him a serene smile, hoping that would get him to start talking.

"Is that so?" He said it quietly, more talking to himself rather than to Claire. There was a bit of silence between them as he closed his eyes, in deep thought. "My parents were both doctors, you know."

"Huh. Really?" Claire propped her chin on her knees. "So I take it you took over the family practice, then?" Trent nodded in reply. "So…you'd always known that you were going to be a doctor?" Claire asked. She couldn't help herself; she was curious to know if that had actually been Trent's dream, or if it had been something else entirely.

Shaking his head, he answered. "No…in fact, I wondered why anyone would want to be a doctor in the first place."

"What do you mean by that?" Claire stared at him, confused.

There was a faraway look in his eyes that, for a moment, made Claire feel like giving him a hug for comfort. But she didn't.

"I hated the fact that they were doctors," he muttered slowly. "They were never around when I was growing up. Always working in the hospital."

"It must have sucked having such busy parents," Claire replied, thinking back of her own parents and how often they went to their business trips.

Trent let out a small sound of understanding. He picked up a small pebble and flung it against the lake, watching it skip a couple of times before sinking. "I've always wondered why. But ever since I became a doctor…I…I understand why."

Claire leaned back a bit; there was a soft expression on her face as she turned to face Trent. "I'm glad. Otherwise this village wouldn't have a doctor as caring as you."

Taken back by the sudden statement, Trent looked away from Claire for a moment, stunned. After he composed himself, a small grin lit up his face. "Thanks. Sorry for having to put you up to listening to this. It's just that whenever my parents had free time, they would take me here."

"I understand," Claire said, forgetting that she wasn't supposed to let herself fall any deeper than she was falling right now. But at that moment, for a split second, it felt like she could see him. Not Trent the doctor, but the real Trent—the Trent she had known was hiding there all along. The two sat in silence, just watching the water ripple and listening to the breeze just gently blowing.

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The sound of pounding footsteps made their way near them. Familiar with that beat, Trent continued looking at the lake; however, Claire turned to see who was approaching. To her relief, it was only Gotz. Feeling a bit safer that the carpenter was there, she decided to break the tension. After all, she only had a good half hour left before she needed to take Trent back to the clinic for his surprise birthday party.

"So what brought you here in the first place, Doc?"

Dusting his pants as he picked himself off the ground, Trent coolly replied, "Nothing really. Just gathering some herbs."

Put off by the sudden tone change, Claire cautiously asked, "Oh? And why is that?"

Trent gave her a sharp look, which Claire found weird and started to question what she had done to warrant such a look from him. "Well, today this morning, Elli informed me that we were low on green and red herbs."

Claire nodded. "And?"

"I checked the inventory and we were not only low on them, we completely ran out," Trent said in a monotone. "You wouldn't happen to have taken them by any chance?"

There were no other words that could describe the ill feeling that was sinking within her at his words. "Are you saying that I took them from you?"

"Now, I'm not blaming you or anything," Trent offhandedly said. "I understand if you forgot to mention that you were going to use the whole thing."

Furious at the implications Trent was throwing down on her, she roughly poked a finger at him. Anger in her eyes, she retorted, "Listen. If I were to take them as you said, I would have told you in the first place. And why are you assuming that it was me? Don't you think it could have been Elli?" Claire added quietly to herself, 'Though it is true that Elli hid them, but, seriously, to think that I would just take what doesn't belonged to me and not asked for it….'

"No one else but you and I are ever allowed in the backroom. Elli knows not to go in there." Trent gave her a pointed look while maintaining his professionalism. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as Gotz eyed the two a bit. Even now, Trent was not too comfortable with showing anyone something other than his 'doctor' persona.

Frustration slowly building up in her, Claire stood up and distanced herself away from him, disgusted. "I'm not going to sit here and listen to what you're saying. I like to think that you at least know enough about me that I wouldn't take anyone's possessions without asking them first. And even if it was a mistake, I'd take just one herb—not the whole load of shit." She started to walk away, burning with indignation. Trent was about to call after her when she stopped suddenly in her tracks. "Oh, I forgot one thing. Elli wants you back at the clinic for something. If you need me, I'll be in the Inn." Without looking back to see his expression or hear him out, Claire swiftly walked away.

Trent wanted to call out to her, to stop her from leaving, but he couldn't. He had to go back to the clinic. With a heavy heart, he set out, unable to keep a certain girl's hurt and confused face from mind.

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Instead of heading out to the inn as Claire originally intended, she stopped by the Poultry Farm. A large part of her felt hurt at the implication and the accusation the doctor had thrown on her. For now, she didn't want to go to the surprise party. Seeing him would only bring her more pain. Raising her fist against the door, she knocked. Knocked again. To her annoyance, no one was answering the door. Claire softly cursed to herself. 'Of course they would be at the party; they're his patients.' Reluctantly, she went back to the inn. As she walked inside, she told Ann and Doug that if anyone asked for her, she was not in her room. Confused at her request, they abided to it anyway. At the sight of her soft and welcoming bed, she flew on to it. Thinking back to earlier events, a small tear made its way down her cheek. "Doesn't he believe me?"

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A couple of hours passed. The guests were leaving the clinic as Elli and Trent started to clean up. He had been surprised when he got to the clinic and a good number of his patients shocked him with this party. Truthfully, Trent didn't expect them to celebrate his birthday in the first place. He figured the only one that knew about it was Elli. "What's this?" Picking up a small brown package, he went to find Elli. "Do you know who this belongs to?" he asked her.

One look to the wrapped gift and Elli remembered. "Oh, that one belongs to you. It's a gift from Claire."

Trent raised an eyebrow at that. He inspected the package then weighed it a couple of times with his hand. "I'm going to be in my room if you don't mind."

"Not at all, Doctor."

Closing the door to his room, he sat on the sofa and carefully tore open the wrapper. A sharp breath. Laying in front of him was a medical book—the recent edition—and a joke book for doctors. There was a small note on one of the books.

_Trent—_

I thought you might like them. The medical one, for instance, you need to update yourself on that. And the humor, you need to lively up a bit. Relax.

Happy Birthday

--Claire

"Claire," Trent whispered softly. Feeling more guilty than ever at how he'd said such horrible words to her, he felt compelled to speak with her. He could never forget that look on her face; he wanted—no, _needed_ to see her. Trent quickly stepped out of his room and onto the first floor, informing Elli that he would be gone for a bit before rushing over to the inn. Ann was sweeping the floor when he came in. "Is Claire here?"

Remembering her promise to Claire, Ann shook her head. "Nope, I haven't seen her come in yet."

"I see. Thank you," Trent stiffly said as he remembered how he must act. 'Where would she be?' Thinking that she might be over at the Poultry Farm, he hurriedly jogged there. "Rick!" Trent called out as he spotted the young man. "Did Claire come over here?"

Rick shook his head, commenting that she had never come while they were there. Trent thanked Rick and walked away, then frowned. Ultimately, he went back to the inn; ignoring Ann's cries to stop, he walked up the stairs and stopped in front of Claire's room. He knocked on the door softly. There was no sound, no answer. "Claire?" he softly called out to her. Nothing. Trent sighed to himself. Digging through his pocket for pen, he took out a piece of paper and left a note. After finishing it, he slipped the note under the door.

Turning away, he gave it one last look. "I hope you'll read it." Then he walked away back to his clinic, as the doctor, and not as Trent.

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AN: Man, don't you want to smack those two upside the head?

Edited 1/5/09


	8. Fall Season Part 5

**_Author's note: _****I like to thank The Scarlet Sky for beta-ing this chapter =) and I hope you guys enjoy this!! Oh, I changed the main girl's name to Claire instead of Jill to be more consistent with the character categories. (edited Jan'09 – I also changed Tim to Trent.)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters for this story. Applies to all previous/current/future chapters.**

**-----------------------------------**

**Medicinal Love**

Chapter 7

_Date: Fall 27 Year 2_

It had been a couple of days since Claire had last seen Trent. She made it a point to avoid him whenever necessary and sometimes failed to go to work. Claire knew that she would have to face him eventually—especially if she wanted to get that recommendation letter from him—but it was just that she would rather do it later than now. It wasn't like she was being cowardly, of course not, no, she wasn't. She just had some unattended matters to attend to…such as spending time with her dear friend Rick. 'Speaking of Rick….'

"Over here, Rick!" Waving to the upcoming chicken farmer, Claire fiddled with a picnic basket that was lying right next to her. They were meeting at the beach; not a lot of people went there often, and Claire found that sort of nice. To her, it was just a coincidence that the doctor rarely went to the beach—at least from what she'd gathered during her short stay in Mineral Town.

"It's been awhile since we had hung out like this." Jogging up to where Claire was sitting underneath the few beach umbrellas scattered around Mineral Beach, Rick gave her a small smile.

Returning the smile to him, Claire agreed. "I'd forgotten how fun it was to hang out with you." Then she paused for a moment. "Even though we didn't really hang out that often, the few times we did, it was a memorable experience."

Rick nodded. "Oh." As if he had forgotten something, he brought a small box with him. "I brought some spa-boiled eggs and my mom made some mixed juice for us."

"Cool. These will go well with the curry rice and these brownies that I brought."

Hours passed as the two were chilling together, mostly catching up to the recent events that had happened in their lives. Claire sighed, looking off to the waves that kept on crashing. Rick turned to look at her. "Something's bothering you?" he asked, having noticed the faraway look in her eyes.

Claire looked at Rick weirdly. "What?" There was a tone of 'what are _you talking_ about?' that Rick caught on to immediately.

"There is something that's bothering you!" Rick pointed out. He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. "My brother-senses are tingling and telling me that you're lying."

"Pfft. Brother-senses?" Claire chuckled.

Rick leaned forward. "So tell me."

At that command, Claire spilled the beans. She told him about how she had been trying to set Elli up with the Doctor---as well as how unsuccessful that turned out to be. Claire even told Rick about her doctor problems and the kind of person that he hid from the rest of the village. When Rick commented on how much of a two-faced man the doctor really was, Claire quickly defended him. Shocked by her sudden outburst, Rick had his epiphany.

Rick told her flat out: "I think you might be falling for him."

Bewildered, Claire retorted sharply, "_What_?" She looked at him straight in the eye. "How could I have fallen for him? I barely even know the guy."

"I'd say you know him better than any one of us," Rick scoffed; he crossed his arms. "I'm not even sure if the majority of us even know what his first name is. From what I've seen, you're a lot closer to him than to his own assistant." Before Claire could open her mouth, Rick continued, "Maybe your heart disagrees what your brain is telling you."

Claire snorted at that last statement. "Well, maybe the heart is not thinking right." Her pupils looked anywhere but at Rick, eager to deny the emotion he'd brought to light.

Rick gave her a hard look. "Then how come your eyes didn't light up when you told me about the progress Elli had made with the doctor earlier?" Claire stood silent, and encouraged, Rick continued, "In fact, I think you already know that you like him." Claire didn't say anything. Rick was right. She did know, but hearing it come from someone other than her….The realization pained her.

"Rick…" she said softly. Claire couldn't even bear to look him in the eye now. "I…I'm leaving by the beginning of next year." At this proclamation, Rick was stunned speechless. Claire continued, "I won't see him ever again." Her voice was barely audible, but the impact of it remained profound. Perhaps it was the softness of the tone that set it off. But whatever it was, Rick found himself overwhelmed with countless emotions. Disappointment that he wouldn't have time to spend with Claire. Sad that he'd be losing a great person, one that he'd had a fun time hanging out with. Loss because he didn't know if they would ever meet again. All of these feelings Rick found he could not voice; he didn't know how to put it in words. But he realized he didn't have to; his expression said it all. A small punch to the shoulder brought Rick out of his misery. "Ow, Claire!" He rubbed the sore spot gingerly. "What did you do that for?"

"What's with that expression on your face?" Claire teased; she smiled at him. "The way you're acting, you'd think that I'll never see you again and that I'll be completely erased out of your life."

"Aren't you?" Rick said sharply. He stared at Claire, who was a bit taken aback by the strong reaction. Then there a sad veil clouded her expression.

"…Do you want me to?"

Rick reeled back abruptly. "No! Of course I don't want you to." He cast his gaze away from her to the ocean, staring at all the blues in the water. "From the days that I've gotten to know you…I feel like there is a strong camaraderie between us—a bond….and I…I want to keep that bond." His voice trailed lower and lower until to the very last word, and Claire struggled to hear him.

"Rick…" Claire's voice cracked. She didn't realized how strongly Rick felt about their relationship. In fact, she could not recall the last time it had happened. On impulse—probably due to her being highly emotional—Claire wrapped her arms about Rick's shoulders. Surprised at the sudden action, Rick hugged her closely, tears pricking both their eyes. Seconds passed until Claire pulled herself away from Rick's hold. "We can still send each other letters, you know. And…and I'll make sure to come and visit you every now and then—whenever I get the opportunity to." Seeing the lack of response, Claire lightly nudged him. "Come on, don't wear that frown." She placed her hand on his shoulder and grinned. "I say that we'll be in contact with one another and we will. So what do you say to just having a good time and spending what time that we do have left in happiness?"

Blue eyes met wet ones. He gave a weak smile. "Sorry…about my reaction Claire. It's…well, when you said you are going to leave, it bought back some unwanted memories." Claire playfully punched him, and her eyes crinkled as they looked at him with laughter.

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Rick had suggested going to the Goddess Spring: something that Claire wholeheartedly agreed to since she hadn't really visited the place for awhile now. Claire inwardly frowned. Now that she had thought about it, she had never really gone to the hot springs that were right next to the spring. At all.

"It won't take that long, Claire, so could you wait out here?" Rick asked her as he opened the door leading to the poultry farm. He wanted to make sure that everything was going well in the storeroom and that his mother was okay.

While she was waiting, playing with some of the chickens, Claire failed to notice the presence of a certain farmer. When she did, she sent an indifferent look at him. The person who stood in her view was Jack, the farmer that had hit on her during the Harvest Moon festival. "Jack." She gave a curt nod, only doing it out of politeness.

"Claire, I…," Jack started to say. It was by coincidence that he saw Claire again after that fiasco. He had been so busy with the farming that he couldn't make the time to apologize for his actions. But needing some animal medicine, he was on his way to the Poultry Farm when he saw her, and so he decided to take the opportunity. "About that night…I'm really sorry how I acted." His eyes stared at Claire, pleading. "I shouldn't have come on to you like that."

Claire snorted; she crossed her arms and stared straight at Jack. "Not my fault that you were being a typical guy."

Jack chuckled weakly at that. "Yeah…."

A pause.

Birds chirped.

Silence.

Another pause.

Sudden fidgeting from Jack.

"Uh…I…um…" Jack mumbled some incoherent words as he tried to string together a decent sentence. Claire stared at him, unblinking and unmoving, and Jack felt his body heat up under her scrutiny.

Staring.

Looking.

Blank stares.

"I'm sorry!" Throwing his hands up in the air, Jack fell down to his knees. That stare unnerved him to no end. Seeing how pathetic Jack had become just by her giving him _the stare_, a small giggle erupted from Claire's throat. Claire slapped her hand over her mouth as to not de-dignify him anymore, but she couldn't hold it back in. "You should have seen yourself, Jack." She rubbed a tear out of her eye. Jack stood flabbergasted, unsure of what just happened as realization slowly hit him.

"Glad you're enjoying yourself at my expense." A cross look appeared over Jack's face, then slowly melted into a smile. "…Though that was pretty fun wasn't it?"

"Hell yeah!" Claire agreed as she looked at Jack. She had missed those times like these…Jack's comments and their shared background as city dwellers.

Silence followed and both of them took that time to take pleasure in it; Claire was still waiting for Rick to come out, but part of her liked being with Jack, too, for awhile. Jack turned to face Claire. "Are we…still friends?"

Claire sighed a little. "Well, I'll be more of a witch if I say 'no'. So, yeah, of course we're still friends, you idiot." The upper right corner of her mouth tilted upward in a grin. "You sure do know how to apologize, though." Claire chuckled, ignoring Jack's exclaimed protests. She laid her chin on her palm in thought. "Besides, do something like that again, and I'll probably kick your rear." At the horrified expression on Jack's face, Claire quickly added, "I'm kidding….maybe."

"Sorry for the wait, Claire," Rick called out as he closed the door behind him.

Seeing that Rick was ready to go, Claire nodded at Jack. "Later!"

"Take care."

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Claire sighed a little as she relaxed into the warm waters that pillowed themselves around her body. All the stress and tension from her muscles was lifted by the caress of the spring's waters; she hadn't felt this relaxed since…Grad Night when she had graduated from high school. Her blue eyes looked to the figure that was standing outside the hot spring area and she raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you don't want to join me? It's very relaxing."

"No, thanks. I don't want Karen to go after me screaming bloody murder," Rick said, having to pick up the phrase 'bloody murder' from listening to Claire a couple of times whenever she was complaining about something.

"Huh. Have to agree with you there. Though she'll probably go after me first and then you," Claire spoke as she thought it out. "Why is it that you like her again?"

"Wh-what!" Rick stuttered. "We're childhood friends! Forget about me, what about you?"

Claire was confused. "Well, what about me?"

A sigh of frustration left his lips; Claire's attempts to move the subject at hand were getting more obvious by the day. "What made you fall for him in the first place?" There was no answer from her; Rick could only hear the splashing sounds as Claire fiddled around the question. "Claire?"

"At first, I didn't like him," Claire replied at length. She saw the confused look on Rick's face and added, "Remember? On my first day here, he struck me as a bastard. Professional on the outside, but with that mean streak in him." Claire laughed softly. "I guess I was the only one to witness and have it directed to me, since it seems like no one else had seen that part of him before. Though, the shallow part of me doesn't mind that he's very pleasing on the eyes." There, she winked at Rick, who only scowled at the last part.

"Women and their eye candy," Rick mumbled as he was reminded of one of the ridiculous reasons why Popuri liked that that summer city dog, Kai.

Claire wanted to swat Rick over the head for that comment, but decided he was too far away for her to do so and that it was _so_ not worth feeling the chilly air that would greet her once she stood. "But _besides_ his appearance, I think that it was his dedication to his work that changed my perception about him. Also…" She drifted off, remembering the note that he had left for her on his birthday. It was an apology…for accusing her and not believing her as well as thanking her for the gift. Yet when she read that note, she couldn't help but feel hurt at his lack of explanation for his brief coldness.

"Is that it?" Rick's voice interrupted her train of thought.

"Wha? Oh yeah," Claire said, once again paying attention to Rick. "I just thought you didn't want me to ramble on about the incredible traits he has."

Rick sighed softly. "There must be something else. You stopped at 'the other side of him.' There has to be more."

"Fine," Claire puffed; she kept an eye near the entrances to the area and the mountain path. "He's very dedicated to you guys and he really cares about what would happen to each and every one of you. I also sense that he wants to do his very best when treating all his patients. I admire him for his determination and dedication."

Claire stopped at that. She let her eyes focus on the water before her, lips refusing to make words. 'Yes, his dedication….'

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**AN: Ooo, and we're getting closer to the end. Don't forget to hit that review button!**


	9. Winter Season Part 1

**Medicinal Love**

Chapter 8

_Date: Winter 03 Year 2_

It was twilight. Light and dark. Dark and light. Neither here nor there. It was nothingness, and yet it wasn't. This was how Trent viewed himself as he sank into his black comfortable chair. The doctor's gear and lab coat were thrown aside in his private room; the first few buttons of his gray dress-shirt were left unbuttoned, and a palm rested on his thigh covered by black slacks. His mind floated back to conversations—gossiping, actually—currently circling around Mineral Town, and once again, wondered how he fit in its puzzle: neither here nor there, black nor white. Twilight.

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[/flashback]

"They make such a cute couple." Manna gushed to Anna.

"Yes," Anna replied as the two chattered at Mineral Square. "Rick and Claire have been spending more time together. I heard that a certain storekeeper's daughter is getting very jealous about the amount of time those two are wasting. Say, do you think they might get together?"

Manna ushered Anna to come closer, but her voice was still heard widely across the village. "Well, with the way things are going, we might even get a…marriage proposal!" She squealed.

"But Manna, don't you think that's jumping to conclusions rather fast?" Anna said, contemplative.

Manna waved the notion off. "Haven't you seen how those two act around each other? It's a sure sign that there's something between them. Why, not even Karen could bring out the side of Rick that Claire has brought forth."

They continued on with their gossip, not paying attention to how vocal they had become. They had forgotten the fact that their predictions could run wild in a small town such as this, but they were quite adamant that by the end of summer, there would be a new addition to the quaint village.

/end

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He couldn't get rid of that image…of them hugging each other as he accidentally passed by Mineral Beach that day or the memory of those two together, in front of the church saying their vows. He felt like punching something…_someone_ (particularly someone who worked at the Poultry Farm…). This was all too new for Trent to handle. He was not supposed to lose control. No, he was not. And yet…, why did it feel like he should unleash that hideous monster within him? If he couldn't reign in that terrible monster inside of him….A loud sigh escaped his lips.

"Doctor? Are you feeling well?"

Elli. Recently, he'd noticed that Elli was being more forward than usual. No doubt it was Claire's work. He didn't miss the small glances and gestures she made whenever she thought he wasn't looking. But no doubt about it, he was confused as heck as to why Claire would encourage Elli to shower him with affections. Didn't the two of them know that he was not interested in Elli at all? He would have to ask Claire why she insisted in setting Elli and him together.

"Doctor?"

Shaken out of his thoughts, he answered, fearing that if he didn't she would start asking questions. "I'm fine. I'm just thinking of what ingredients to use for this medicine I'm working on."

Elli nearly dropped the object that she was holding. "Oh? Really, Doctor? You're…improving a new medicine?" Her skin paled a bit as she recalled the last time she had to taste-test an 'improved' medicine, and she shuddered.

There was a weird expression on his face as he turned to her. "Would you like to try it?"

Shaking her head sideways, Elli excused herself saying that she was needed at her grandmother's place as she quickly left the room. Trent smirked to himself. He knew what the general opinion on his improved medicines was, though that didn't necessarily stop him from improving the medicines he received or finding beta testers. Trent rustled through some papers. 'Oh, well,' he thought. He could always ask the village's farmer to test-taste for him anyway. After all, there was a discount for some of the medicine in the store for the farmer anyway. …Oh wait. Ever since the last time he'd used an improvised medicine, Claire had gotten on his case rather aggressively and reprimanded him about the potential dangers of doing something like that. Being lectured by a student nevertheless had been an awful blow to his ego.

"Yo, Doc!" A bright and cheery voice echoed through his office as the figure at the door walked in, dropping her stuff off in a corner.

Trent only raised an eyebrow at her unusual greeting. "You're awfully perky today, Claire. Who knew you'd be that eager to clean herbs today?"

A smirk formed on her face. "Definitely the most fun thing to do around here. Cleaning herbs. After all, it's the _most vital process_ in herbal making," Claire commented as she flicked her hair away. Even though Claire was still not her old self and didn't want to see Trent thanks to that birthday fiasco, she knew that eventually she would have to face him again and pretend that nothing had happened between them. The day before yesterday, Rick had bargained with her about coming back to the clinic if she lost at a game of chicken tag; needless to say, she should have never made a bet with someone who'd raised chickens all of his life.

"Well, if it is such an _important _part of the process, those herbs are not going to wash themselves anytime soon," he pointed out. Piles of herbs stacked neatly in different buckets were laid inside a room just right around the edge of the wall Claire was facing and the doctor gestured to them with a wave of his hand.

"Right," Claire drawled a little bit. As she stood at the edge of the room, she turned and stared at him. "Oh, I almost forgot. There's something really important at the Goddess Pond that you have to attend to."

There was a curious sparkle in his eyes. "Important? And pray tell what that something is?"

If Trent looked a bit closer, he would have noticed a sad look that appeared on Claire's face only a second before it became indifferent again. "I don't know…I'm just told that it's important and that you shouldn't dawdle here any longer. I'll watch over the clinic with Elli."

Claire could see the hesitation and a little bit of suspicion floating inside Trent. She couldn't completely blame him, really, because she was being awfully vague about it, but it wasn't like she could say what she had in store for him, now could she? Claire decided to use her final trump card. "You're not afraid, are you? I'm sure a little trip to the Goddess Pond could warrant you some herbs that you can gather along the way. And you look like you need a break from all those papers that you're holding on to anyway."

He sighed. Already Trent could foresee whining and nonstop pestering coming from her if he did not attend this little meeting. "Fine, I'll go. But I better see those herbs nice and clean when I get back." Claire waved a hand and went inside the room, ready to wash the herbs. Meanwhile, Trent went outside.

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It didn't take him that long to reach the Goddess Pond…or at least it felt like it hadn't been that long to him. He was shocked to find Elli standing there at the edge of the pond. Racking his brain, he wondered how she had gotten there before him. Last he'd checked, she was at the front desk by the time he left. "Elli? What are you doing here?"

Elli turned around, startled by the sound of his voice. "D…doctor!" Her face began to flush and she wrung her hands in the apron she always wore. She started to stutter, making sounds that were not comprehendible to him. Then she began to mumble.

Frustrated at how this was going, Trent counted to ten as he mentally took in a deep breath. "Elli," he asked gently, "is there something you needed to talk to me about?"

"Um…you see, Doctor. It's…I mean…I…." Elli wrung the end of the apron rather harshly. As if she had suddenly gained courage, Elli stood up straighter and stared right at him eye to eye. "I've admired you for a long time and I was wondering if you want to go on a date with me."

On the outside, it seemed as if Trent had no reaction to the declaration at all. But on the inside, it was a whole different story. After what seemed like moments, Trent finally responded. "Elli…" His voice took on a soft tone, but didn't waver as he spoke, "I'm flattered that you think of me this way, but I can't reciprocate your feelings. I only see you as a friend."

"Oh…I see." Elli quickly looked down at her hands, anywhere but at the man who had rejected her. Never before had she felt this embarrassment before. As for sadness, she had already experienced something that was a lot worse than the doctor's rejection. Still, she was left feeling very cold and hurt.

Trent wanted to berate himself for doing this to Elli, but it couldn't be helped. He didn't see her as anything more than a friend. And yet, he stood there awkwardly as Elli tried to hide the incoming tears. Any move on his part might only be interpreted as pity or comfort: neither of which she would want from him at the moment. He gave one last look at her crumpling figure on the ground. There was a sad expression on his face, but it was not of regret. "You don't have to come back to the clinic right away…just take your time." With that said, he walked back quickly. What had started out as suspicion and maybe curiosity was now an all-consuming desire to know the answer. To what? The answer to everything: the rumors that were floating around and Claire's actions as of late. He was going to do something about it.

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The door banged so loudly that Claire almost dropped her herbs onto the floor. Curious as to who would make such a noise, she went outside. She patted the water away with her hands. No sooner than she had reached the door to the front lobby was she shoved backwards. Claire nearly stumbled over her own feet when she heard the door of the doctor's personal office locking tightly. She felt a hand roughly grabbing her before being swiftly moved at an angle where her back was pressed against the bare wall.

"Claire." Trent leaned toward her as he placed his arms on either side of her head, effectively trapping her. "Why were you so focused in getting Elli and I together?"

Claire cursed the wall behind her as she stared at intense eyes before her. "What are you talking about?" She tried to ease the tension, hoping that Trent would catch the diversion and forget all of this. "Why would you think _I_ would do something like that?"

Trent frowned. "I was hoping you would tell me that." He closed what little space existed between them. "You know what I'm talking about, so why?"

At that point, Claire realized that he wasn't giving up and that she didn't know how much longer she could take being in this position. "Just thought that you guys would be perfect together." She tried to ignore the fact that she could feel his breath on her cheek. "Elli is good for you and I think that she will make you happy. After all, how long are you planning to stay single?"

Soft chuckling sounded from Trent. "Are you sure that Elli's the one?"

Claire nodded. "Well, who else could it be then? I don't see you interacting with people other than in professional business." She furrowed her eyebrows as she recalled any other female it could be. "Popuri?" At Trent's bewildered expression, Claire quickly added, "Do you bend the other way?" She treaded cautiously on the subject, not knowing him well-enough to call on his sexual preference.

"What?" Trent said sharply; that question threw him off track. 'Does she think that I like….' "No, no. I…happen to admire the fairer sex more."

"Oh. Okay." Claire stood awkwardly, still trapped between the wall and the statue in front of her. "Well, if you like someone and she's not Elli, why don't you make a move on her first?"

Trent looked at Claire. "I'm more curious as to why you think I should be dating at the moment?"

Claire stared back at him. "Elli…she really likes you. Why _don't_ you just give her a chance?"

He chuckled once more. "Do you really want to know _why_?" Trent teased as he baited her. The monster that he desperately was trying to bind was quickly becoming released as each second passed.

Staring at him with confusion at the sudden change of atmosphere, Claire plainly responded, "Uh, okay."

"As you wish," he said softly. Before either of them knew what was happening, Trent's face closed the distance between them. Claire could only think and feel the soft pressure that was on her lips. His lips were still on hers. But as his hands moved down slowly across her arms and lingered around her shoulders, lips began to nibble and moved as the owner tried to get the other to respond.

Frozen by the sudden, and perhaps unpredictable, action from him, Claire didn't know what to do. As his lips nibbled hers, the rational part of her screamed to push, to shove, or punch him away from her. And yet, the irrational side, whispered to her of soft longings and desire that she secretly held inside of her _for_ him. A soft whisper of "Claire" threw all caution away as she gave in to her desire. Hands flew to the back of his neck as she pushed him onto her, and her lips began to dance with his.

Claire didn't know how much time had passed since this began. All around her, she felt everything was moving too slow and, yet, too fast at the same time. She was unaware of the soft gasps that left her mouth, how revered his name was spoken by her, as calloused hands gently brushed against her face.

The sound of Elli's voice calling out for the doctor quickly tore away all illusions and destroyed the world they were in as they both pushed each other away at the same time, both with different reasons that had the same point: they didn't want Elli to see this. As Claire quickly began to move back to her previous room, a hand prevented her from going further. "I'll see you tonight at the Inn," was all that Trent said before he quickly straightened himself up and went out to the front lobby where Elli was calling for him.

Too dazed and lost at what had just happened, Claire only went back to the room to clean some more herbs. It was during that time that Claire realized what she had just done and the full impact from it. Tears began to roll down her face slowly as fingers began to gently wash the herbs from the dirt. She knew what she had to do tonight.

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Author's Note: You guys should seriously thank starry-nights88 for motivating me to finish this story. Only one left a review =( , so I'm guessing it's smooth sailing with the story? I guess it wouldn't matter at this point since I got the story completed. =/ Next chapter might be up soon once The Scarlet Sky finishes editing the rest of the story. But anyways, what do you guys think now?

Much love goes to The Scarlet Sky for editing this! ^-^


	10. Winter Season Part 2

**Medicinal Love**

Chapter 9

_Date: Winter 03 Year 2_

Claire was anxiously pacing around her room. She would be meeting up with Trent tonight, and tonight was only a couple hours away. Reflecting back to that time when they were making out in his office---yes, Claire could call it that since what they 'd done basically defined the term-she wanted to slap herself silly for giving in so easily. "Fate can be so cruel..." she whispered to herself. "Either that or we both just had really lousy timing." Blue eyes looked wearily at the calendar across the bed. The days were marked off to show how much time she had left...before she had to go back and finish university. And yet, she could not deny the happiness and pleasure she felt around him. Had things gone differently, Claire knew that if they had a relationship, it would be lasting.

"I should start applying to med schools after this," she said aloud, changing her train of thought. Claire had gotten a call from her roommate, Patricia, that the thesis (which she had crammed for so much and worked very diligently for) had already been read and well received. The future looked bleak, but there was a ray of hope that she could achieve her career goal. "Trent...." She drew circles around the bed sheets and moaned. "Just thinking about this makes my head hurt." And with that said, she found herself slowly dozing.

It was the sound of several tappings that woke Claire up from her quick slumber. Barely awake, she stumbled toward the center of the noise and opened the window. In crawled Trent. She noted that he was without his usual white coat. "Are doors really that unpopular in this room?" Claire asked, remembering the last time someone had used her window as an entrance.

Trent laughed at that. "Maybe it's just you." He quickly strode toward her and held her in his arms before giving her a sweet, tender kiss. That simple kiss turned into so much more. Claire immersed herself in that feeling, the warmth...both created by him as they tasted each other. Eventually, the two of them broke off for much needed oxygen.

"You need to wash that mouth," Trent commented at the after-taste in his mouth.

"Great way to kill the mood Trent," she complained, but she went to the bathroom anyway-the whole problem thanks to that little nap she had earlier. She could hear him laughing from the bedroom.

As she splashed her face with water, she began to wonder when she would tell him. She had meant to tell him once he entered, but things happened and nothing ever went according to plan. "Might as well wing it," Claire told to her reflection.

"So..." Claire began, though there was enough tension stifling the room. She bit her lip, knowing what she was about to say might change everything forever. But she had to say it. "Where will this," she moved her hands to express, "lead to?"

There, Trent looked nervous--so different than his usual confident self. He stared at her blankly. "Well, what else?" Trent coughed as he looked to the side of the room. "If you wish, we could go on a few dates...and maybe go further than that?"

Claire shook her head. "Trent...we can't."

"What do you mean 'we can't' ?" Trent glanced at her rather abruptly.

She sighed. "I meant that we just can't be in a relationship together."

The words left his mouth immediately: "Why not?" Claire walked near the window, never looking back at Trent; she wouldn't know how to handle the predicted expression that lingered there.

"Trent." She finally turned to face him, gathering courage to do so as she stared at him straight in the eyes. "I won't be here long enough to actually have a decent relationship with you."

Trent stood, flabbergasted. "Is that it? Is that _why_? Because you're leaving?"

Claire gave him a rather pointed look. "Trent." She flatly called out his name. "Remember why I came to this town in the first place?"

Remembering the first day, he nodded. "I remember." Then he was silent. "Well, we could always have a long distance relationship. I heard those are 'in' nowadays. Or you could stay here." Seeing her expression at that, he quickly corrected, "Or I could follow you." He stared at her blue eyes, crossing the distance she had created between them in such a short span of time. "Just...just let me be in your life as intimately as you are in mine."

Hearing those words, Claire couldn't stop herself as she broke down in front of him. Worried at this sudden reaction, Trent quickly gathered her in his arms and moved them to the bed where at least he would be comfortable holding her. Arms wrapped themselves tightly over her, providing her shelter, her back against his chest. Feeling his heartbeat while listening to the poundings of her own heart, Claire took the time to secretly enjoy being in this position: imprinting the emotions that ran throughout her body and revering the fact that he felt the same way she did, before...before everything changed. Trent pulled Claire even closer to him as he laid his head down on her shoulder, so that they were cheek to cheek. Whispers of comfort and love left his mouth and entered her ear. Her body shook even more. Slowly, she gathered her resolution and scrunched it into a ball. Claire focused on stopping her tears. She didn't want to make this any worse than it should be.

Trent could only watch in confusion as Claire broke out of his gasp and stood a good distance away from him. She turned to him with a hardened face, devoid of all emotions. "There is no way we could ever be in a relationship. It's just not possible." She spoke as if she was speaking to a businessperson or a stranger, no warmth in her words.

"Claire, what are you saying?" Trent wanted to grab her and shake her, wondering that if he did that, he might possibly understand the mechanics that ran inside her head.

Claire raised an eyebrow. "What do you think I'm saying?" Then she said it slowly. "It's. Not. That. Possible."

There was a deep cease on his forehead as the corners of his lips turned downwards. "What? You think that this can't work out?"

"That's exactly what I've been saying for the past couple of minutes," Claire nearly yelled, but didn't, not wanting the others next door to overhear.

"Don't deny your feelings," Trent growled, feeling more than a bit frustrated at her stubbornness and denials. "I have a pretty good clue of what your feelings are."

"Do you?" Claire asked, daring him to contradict her: though this was all a bluff, something that both parties were fully aware of.

Trent made sure to put his face awfully close to hers. "If you didn't, you would have never enjoyed those kisses."

She coolly stared at him. "They meant nothing to me." The words came out harshly, though deep inside, she was crying. Yet if acting like this would lead her to the solution she craved, she would continue this charade. "Now, if you're done pestering me, you should leave. Now." Checking over at the time, she realized that it was a little bit past ten. "The bar's closed and Doug and Ann don't really go back to their rooms until eleven, so you'll have to leave from where you entered." She opened the window.

Stunned at her coldness, Trent wanted to scream-to release all the emotions that bubbled up inside of him. Angry at her treatment toward him. Confusion as to why she behaved the way she did. Sadness, because even though he didn't want to admit it, she had rejected him. Unsure of what to do with all of these feelings, he just did what she wanted. Trent was not in the right mental state to even think of his actions; all he remembered was experiencing those emotions suddenly and painfully. As he climbed out of the window, he looked back at her...hoping that this was all a big misunderstanding and that she was only playing a joke on him. Albeit a very cruel joke, but seeing her not even staring at him... He made sure to bask in her features, for this could be the last time he would ever see her again. As Trent raked his eyes over her body, he noticed that her blue eyes no longer held that joy of life that he had always seen sparkling there. Instead, they had a rather dull shade of blue. He also took note of the rather stiff position she was holding onto herself. Remembering an excerpt from one of the medical textbooks he read, he knew that this was hard on her as well. But what he didn't understand was _why_ she was acting like this. Whatever it was, there was now a sense of hope beginning to run through him.

As soon as he was gone from her sight, Claire quickly collapsed on to the floor. Her legs no longer had the strength to hold her body. Arms shaking, Claire tried to console herself as tears began gushing rapidly and harshly. Earlier when she had cried, it had been nothing compared to what she was doing now. She could only remember the look of disbelief and hurt that graced his expression when she told him that all of this had meant nothing to her. She stayed in a curled position for an hour or so, moving only to close the window to block out the chilly air. Now of all times, she didn't want to be sent to the clinic for being stupid enough to get herself frozen or close to hypothermia. Especially not after how she'd treated him. Replaying the scenes of the night's events repeatedly, Claire knew that she had to leave. The sooner, the better. Grabbing a couple of sheets of paper and an envelope, she began to write. It only took her an hour to write a letter for Rick and for Jack. Then she quickly packed her stuff. From what she could remember, Zack was always awake around six in the morning, so hopefully she could get the travel paperwork done at least. She knew the boat would not be at the pier until noon. Claire could give those letters to Harris and instruct him to deliver it the day after. As she got ready for bed, exhausted by the event, tears still poured freely down her cheeks-less than before, but painful nonetheless. Before shutting her eyes, a single whisper left her lips: "I'm sorry."

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**Author's Note:** Well, things aren't looking too good. Thanks to The Scarlet Sky for going over this chapter ^.^. Though looking back at this chapter, I think I may rewrite this or edit some stuff in the future. At the present moment, I'm tolerant of how this is. Review please! This chapter has got to make you guys react or something.

** (edited 1-14-08)** - Changed all the Tim to Trent. Sorry for the confusion/annoyance!


	11. Winter Season Conclusion

**Medicinal Love**

**Chapter 10**

**--Elli's POV--**

I always thought there was something strange about their relationship. The Doctor's and Claire's. Ever since that day she had come in to the clinic, unconscious and maybe a bit dehydrated, the Doctor had been a bit…strange whenever she was around.

…I guess I should have known back then. But I was blinded by my affections for him, thinking that I was the only person whom he was ever close with. After all, there was no one else that had seen the doctor in his many moments. No one except me. Well, that used to be my position until she came along. I guess I could never be more than the doctor's nurse. And to think that once I considered this position to be the greatest, since it would have allowed me to be close with the doctor at all times. What a fool I've been. I had always thought Claire was my friend. But I was wrong.

There were only a couple of times when the Doctor seemed more lively than usual. I could count those occasions on one hand. There were those times when the Doctor helped others: I saw something in his facial expression…something that was rarely there when things went routinely. The other times…well, they were whenever he was with Claire. I guess they must have built some sort of bond between them during all those hours spent over her researching and working around here.

I'll admit that I am still a bit hurt from his rejection that fateful day when, prompted by Claire, I gathered my courage and confessed my love to him. Yet, hearing his answer…I feel lifted. I am sad that I am not the one that could make him happy, and perhaps I feel a bit of resentment towards Claire for encouraging my hope and dreams like that, but as long as he is happy, I'm content. Maybe someday, I'll find someone that I can call my own.

Maybe I don't really feel as much hatred toward Claire as I thought. Now I can move on to better things in life. I hope in the end, those two will be happy with each other.

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**The clinic door slammed opened. Elli broke away from her thoughts as she stared at the figure who was responsible for the noise. "Rick! Why are you here?" Worry seized her as she could only think of one reason that could cause him to look as if he had been running for his life. "Is Lillia alright?"**

**"Mom's…," Rick wheezed, "fine. Where's the doctor?"**

**Elli robotically responded, the procedure familiar. "He's over at his desk." She pointed to the examination room right next to the front lobby.**

**Several words were barely heard from where Elli was sitting. She only caught few words like "harbor," "leaving," and "now" before the doctor and Rick rushed out of the room and out of the clinic. There was no word from the doctor about any of this. But before those two had left, Elli had caught the sense of urgency etched on the doctor's face.**

**She would not see him for the next four hours.**

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**Trent entered the clinic, though looking more forlorn than Elli had ever seen him. There was a distant gaze in his eyes that made her worry for his health. It seemed as if he had lost all hope. "Doctor?" Elli called out worriedly, wondering what or who could do such a thing to a man like the doctor.**

**"She never looked back," was all that he said before Trent locked himself in his office. During the time from when he entered the room and then locked himself in, it felt as if he had lost all those who were dear to him. Elli made a mental note to herself, marking the day that the man whom she had loved (and probably still was in love with, for she hadn't truly gotten over her feelings for him) became different. It was from that moment on that Elli knew that the doctor would never be the same…a fact that would only be known to those who paid careful attention to him, this man with two sides.**

**=The End=**

**_Author's Note_:** So…hopefully you guys won't be angry at how I ended this story, but what else could be done in that situation? Anyway, there might be a sequel—one with a happier ending than this—but it all depends on your guys' reaction. Reviewing is the key to motivation…or at least a good way to guilt-trip authors.

One more thing, since I'm starting school soon, I won't be able to write the sequel (if I'm writing it) until I'm done with school since that is my first priority at the moment. So the best time that I'll be working on the sequel will be late May. I'm open to ideas/scenarios.

Much love to The Scarlet Sky for beta-ing this.


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